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CONTENTS
THE SERIES 1.
SEASON ARCS 3.
PILOT TREATMENT 10.
THH WORLD 24.
CHARACTER BIOS 30.
STUDENT HANDBOOK 41.
ON DREAMS AND DREAMING 49.
THE ETTINGER DREAM CHAMBER 60.
PHOTIC STIMULATION GOGGLES 62.
MESMERTOL 65.
PARAPHYSICS FUNDAMENTALS 67.
GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF TERMS 75.
1.
by Daniel Knauf
A group of college students is recruited as warriors in the ultimate inter-dimensional war between Order and Chaos. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s complex and terrifying “Dream Cycle” mythos, SLEEPERS will blend a heady brew of dark horror-fantasy elements informed by graphic violence and mature sexual themes.
THE SERIES
SLEEPERS is a serialized ensemble drama projected to be presented over six seasons, each of which will be pre-branded by a series of six companion novels. Each season of 12 episodes will encompass one academic year at Pachaug University, following the main protagonist from his acceptance at age 18 through the conclusion of his graduate studies at age 24.
The majority of the drama will occur in the environs of a liberal arts campus setting.
Effects-driven digital elements will include fully realized environments depicting alternate universes and the characters and creatures that inhabit them.
The tone of the series will be dark, with running conflicts centered around campus life, faculty and student friendship/romance/betrayal and interdepartmental rivalries under the cloud of an existential threat that ramps up the meta-arc. It will be thoroughly grounded, sexually frank and graphically violent.
Inspired by seminal horror-writer H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle Mythos, SLEEPERS will include dark-fantasy and horror elements. However, in execution, the series will be 2. tonally and thematically hard-edged and reality-based; far more akin to morally ambiguous contemporary dramas such as BREAKING BAD and TRUE DETECTIVE than traditional genre fare.
SYNOPSIS
FINN TALBOT, an 18 year-old victim of a severe sleep disorder, is offered a scholarship at PACHAUG UNIVERSITY, founded in 1854 and dedicated to the study of the uncanny— from astral-projection to crypto-zoology and everything in between. There, Finn is inducted into the Sleep Studies Department.
Using lucid directed-dreaming techniques, Finn and his fellow students, ALICE DESMOND and BARTON ROGERS, breach dimensions and conduct expeditions under the direction of the charismatic dean of the department, DR. A. GORDON CARTER.
Finn soon learns that the mysterious Board of Regents hope to unlock his incipient but extraordinary paranormal abilities, develop them and bring them to bear against an eldritch evil that threatens to shred the fabric of reality and obliterate mankind.
At our story’s inception, Finn Talbot will be presented as a protagonist following the classic Hero’s Journey as defined by the late Joseph Campbell, a near-dry well drawn from by genre hits as disparate as STAR WARS to THE LORD OF THE RINGS and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.
However, as the story of SLEEPERS progresses, circumstances will force Talbot to make ever-greater moral compromises in order to serve the “greater good” of saving the multiverse, slowly and inexorably becoming thoroughly corrupted in the process of the projected six-season series arc.
Talbot’s journey will not follow in the well-worn path of Luke Skywalker, but traverses the twisting, increasingly terrifying downhill trajectory of Walter White in BREAKING BAD; a relentless descent and eventual surrender to utter darkness.
Inspired by the traditions of speculative magic realism pioneered by Ellison, Mathison and Garcia-Marquez, SLEEPERS, will reflect and elaborate on the unique vision of creator Daniel Knauf’s previous cult series, CARNIVÀLE, a dark genre-fantasy that is fully grounded in reality, wedding morally nuanced characters with muscular, sophisticated storytelling and thematic elements, and presenting them with uncompromising verve and sumptuous, deeply disturbing visuals. 3.
SEASONAL ARCS:
SEASON ONE - SLEEPERS
Since the onset of adolescence, an 18 year-old victim of severe sleep disorders, FINNIAN “FINN” TALBOT, has been plagued with nocturnal attacks by a vile, cloaked female entity he knows only as “RAGGEDY ROOTY.”
His journey begins with the unexpected receipt of a full-boat scholarship from an obscure, private East Coast university. Finn leaves his mother VERONICA and twin sisters REBECCA and CAITLIN, and travels to the isolated, ancient woods of western Rhode Island to attend PACHAUG UNIVERSITY.
Founded in 1854, at first blush, Pachaug is a private institution not dissimilar to most universities, offering a traditional curriculum of liberal arts and sciences. However, Finn has been recruited into a specialized scholastic track overseen by the Walter Gilman Memorial Academic Alliance, an interdisciplinary academic coalition of four departments dedicated to the study of “multiverse theory.”
Finn is introduced to the Sleep Studies Department, run by DR. A. GORDON CARTER, where he learns that the sleep disorder that has plagued him since childhood is actually a concerted effort by an extra-dimensional entity, the Daemon Sultan AZATHOTH, to suppress his abilities for Transportive Dreaming—that is, the power to project himself into alternate dimensions in the multiverse through the means of directed dreaming.
The university is a hotbed of interdepartmental conflicts and political scheming. In charge is the mysterious and powerful BOARD OF REGENTS, consisting of a group of alumni, benefactors, retired faculty and former administrators. They oversee the Gilman Trust and direct the millions it allocates annually between departments, the pursuit of which has spawned deep, lasting antipathy between various department heads over the decades since the founding of the university.
The series story-arcs are primarily driven by the relationships between characters typical of a traditional drama set within the unique milieu of an institution of higher learning; titles such as THE SOCIAL NETWORK, GOOD WILL HUNTING, WHIPLASH, LOVE STORY and 4.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Themes will be explored such as coming of age, alienation, professional and romantic jealousy, workplace politics, the nature of nobility and the anguish of betrayal, amplified by the very insularity of a private college in an isolated setting.
Sleepers will play like a complex, carefully choreographed dance, uniting our characters in pairs and groups, each bound by love—romantic, fraternal, paternal and platonic—as well as envy, rivalry, resentment and simmering hatred. Examples include the central romantic triangle between Finn and classmates ALICE DESMOND and BARTON ROGERS, and the cutthroat internecine conflicts between departmental rivals Drs. A. Gordon Carter and ALLISON RIGGS.
These two main story-drivers will be augmented by additional plots such as cartographer KELLIE POLIDORI’s unrequited infatuation with Finn and the abiding friendship between Carter and his his mentors, DR. RICHARD CREW and MA’CHU—a xenomorphic native of the Belzar race indigenous to The West sphera. 1
Meanwhile, Finn’s very presence at Pachaug University is a catalyst that exacerbates long- standing conflicts within the institution, and it soon becomes apparent that there is an array of forces ruthlessly committed to his failure and eventual expulsion, including the President of the college, DR. KELSEY WITHERS and members of the mysterious BOARD OF REGENTS.
The character driven arcs will be played against the series meta-arc of interdimensional travel and the winds of a war that represents an existential threat to reality as we know it.
Sleep Studies Department, the “four legs of the stool” comprising the Gilman Academic Alliance are the Schools of Paraphysics, run by Dr. Allison Riggs, the Cartographics Department, headed by DR. AMIR CARPATHIAN, and the Xenomorphology Department, overseen by DR. DOROTHY LEE.
Though all four schools rely on the limited funding available through the Gilman Trust, competition is particularly heated between Sleep Studies and Paraphysics—the former traditionally acknowledged as the primary vehicle of interdimensional exploration and research, though lately overshadowed by promising advances in the latter.
Once Finn breaks the shackles of his nocturnal nemesis, Raggedy Rooty, he quickly distinguishes himself in the Sleep Studies department and is teamed up with Carter’s two leading protégés, Alice Desmond and Barton Rogers. Finn is assigned a top navigator from the Cartography Department, Kellie Polidori, a petite ginger pixie with a 155 IQ, who immediately becomes infatuated with him—a crush unrequited because Finn has eyes for Alice (creating friction as he and her long-time, on-and-off boyfriend, Barton, compete for her affections).
1 For definitions of terminology used in this manuscript, please refer to the addendum Sleepers – Glossary of Terms. 5.
Finn’s natural talent for Transportive Dreaming is enhanced via clinical dosages of various drugs—primarily an experimental diazepam known as Mesmertol. By synchronizing their biometrics and spiritual harmonics through the employment of Ettinger dream-chamber technology, multiple Sleepers link consciousness and engage in Cooperative Dream Activity (or CDA).
Through their explorations, Finn, Alice and Barton soon discern the winds of a gathering war. Azathoth, in his insanity and paranoia, has set his sights on seizing control of all six universes contained in the Globaru, and has begun recruiting agents and asserting influence far beyond the dark realm he inhabits known as Chaos.
Earth needs a champion and Dr. Carter, Dr. Richard Crew and Ma’chu recognize Finn, with his extraordinary abilities, is this universe’s best hope against the daemon-legions of Azathoth. But first, they must obtain the secret wisdom of the Elder Gods, the very pursuit of which is fraught with the very real danger of Finn’s spiritual corruption.
Carter, Crew and Ma’chu have compelling reasons to suspect Azathoth has acquired the Sarnath Codis, an ancient manuscript containing the mathematical formulae necessary to predict the occurrence of interdimensional vortices and calculate their exact time, date and global coordinates. If true, the Daemon Lord holds the power to physically breach dimensions, inserting his agents in alternate spherae, gathering intelligence and setting the stage for interdimensional war.
The season concludes with an expedition in which Finn, Alice and Barton are tasked with determining conclusively whether Azathoth is in possession of the Codis and, if possible, whether it can be recovered and secured. A catastrophic mission-failure leads to the death of Kellie Polidori.
Will the ends justify the means? The stakes are literally existential; the moral obliteration one man’s soul to save this world and everything in it.
SEASON TWO - SLEEPERS: INCURSION
Kellie Polidori’s tragic death and the calamitous outcome of the team’s CDA expeditions result in a suspension of funding to the Sleep Studies Department.
University President, Dr. Kelsey Withers, recruits a task force to investigate “violations of academic safety protocols and improprieties” within Sleep Studies, suspending Dr. Carter pending its outcome. The lab in Darrow Fillmore School of Medicine is chained shut. Kellie’s death weighs heavily on Dr. Carter and he falls into a depressive spiral
He enlists the help of his loyal protégé, Barton, to assist him with what he refers to as his “independent study” project. Utilizing his entire savings and mortgaging his beloved 6. family farm to the hilt, Carter begins surreptitiously constructing a crude if fully functional Ettinger Chamber in his barn.
Finn, Alice, Barton and the rest of the Sleepers, no longer able to access the technology and pharmacology necessary to conduct CDAs, are limited to classes focused on textbook theory rather than first-hand exploration.
Nevertheless, Finn continues solo expeditions in the multiverse spherae through his natural talent for Transportive dreams and makes a number of startling discoveries, primary among which is the fact that Kellie, though physically dead in our own world, is very much alive in the sphera known as The West.
Kellie’s interdimensional familiar, a sentient, bone-white salamander, still harbors her consciousness. Spiritually and intellectually acclimated to her new form—more salamander than girl—she nevertheless recognizes Finn and subsequently becomes his steadfast companion as he traverses the spherae, taking up residence in his coat pocket, scuttling ahead on expeditions to gather intelligence; whispering advice into his ear in an oddly sibilant pigeon-English.
Even more stunning, Finn encounters Alice inside the Dreamlands.
The two discover that they share a natural “harmonic synchronicity” a phenomenon that, while theoretically possible, has never been empirically proven or recorded. They begin joint explorations, resuming the search for the Sarnath Codis. The shared time brings them closer, exacerbating the romantic triangle between Finn, Alice and Barton. Though Alice is torn between the two men, she remains physically faithful to Barton.
Carter’s wife AUDREY is compelled by her husband’s self-destructive behavior to collect their beloved children, ANNA and MAYNARD, and leave him to stay with her family in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abandonment of his family only hastens Carter’s disintegration; he becomes obsessed with the conviction Dr. Allison Riggs is behind the current state of affairs—from the death of Kelly Polidori to the gutting of his department’s funding.
When Carter begs his mentor, Dr. Crew, a member of the University Board of Regents, for access to confidential financial documents, Crew and Ma’chu become concerned that he is suffering a mental breakdown.
However, unknown to Dr. Crew and Ma’chu, the allegations they dismiss as Carter’s paranoid delusions are actually true! Azathoth is indeed in possession of the Sarnath Codis, and has used it to exploit interdimensional vortices to insert provocateurs into all seven spherae—including Earth. This fifth column has infiltrated and insinuated agents in high levels of social institutions throughout the multiverse and is tasked with actively compromising stability, inciting war and undermining cultural institutions.
On Earth, Pachaug University is a plum target. 7.
With profound regret, Dr. Crew takes the steps necessary to have Carter legally detained for a psychiatric assessment. However, before authorities can apprehend him, Carter barricades himself and Barton inside the barn. Injected with a massive dose of Mesmertol, they initiate Level 3 Cooperative Dream Activity. By the time they are found by authorities, both Carter and Barton are in comatose states. Carter is removed and transferred to a secured unit at the notorious Howard State Hospital for the Criminally Insane while Barton is admitted to the nearest acute care unit.
When Crew and Ma’chu discover that the lion’s share of Sleep Study’s budget has been surreptitiously allocated to the Paraphysics Department, it’s clear someone with influence over the Board of Regents is orchestrating a dark, two-pronged agenda: one, to dismantle the Sleep Studies Department—whose incursions represent a critical threat to Azathoth’s security—and two, to beef up resources devoted to Paraphysics.
Meanwhile, Finn and Alice continue their nocturnal quests to ascertain whether Azathoth is in possession of the Sarnath Codis.
They are stunned to encounter Dr. Carter in The West sphera. They quickly realize that the man they are speaking to is not their professor, A. Gordon Carter, but his great- grandfather, Maynard Carter, who mysteriously vanished in 1893. However, because of dimensional-time anomalies within the margina, he has not aged despite the fact that over 120 years have passed on Earth.
Maynard passed into the Dreamlands in possession of the sole extant copy of the Codis, which was stolen from him by agents of Azathoth. Though he no longer possesses the book, using the mathematical formulae within before it was taken, he determined the location and time of an imminent vortex manifestation that will return him to Earth.
Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to infiltrate Azathoth’s palace and recover the Sarnath Codis, Dr. Gordon Carter and Barton undertake a daring journey beyond the dreaded Plains of Leng, the Mountains of Madness, the Moon and into the Realm of Chaos. At a critical point, however, Barton suddenly recovers from his coma. The extended CDA ends, leaving Carter alone, imprisoned in Azathoth’s caropalatium in a state of agony.
The season concludes with a shocking coda when Finn, Alice and Maynard Carter ascertain Dr. Carter’s fate. The only way to free his astral body and grant him peace is to end the life of his physical body here on Earth. To that end, Maynard uses the vortex to return to his home dimension. He euthanizes his permanently comatose great-grandson and takes his place, assuming A. Gordon Carter’s identity in 21st Century Pachaug University.
8.
SEASON THREE - SLEEPERS: RETRIBUTION
Intent on forging peace with Azathoth by establishing The Free Territories as an interdimensional DMZ, The Board of Regents dispatches Dr. Carter and a team into the most dangerous quarter of The Margina to negotiate a settlement that Carter suspects is more an act of appeasement than diplomacy.
Carter chooses Alice and Barton to accompany the team, leaving Finn behind to guard against any enemy incursions from Azathoth.
A trap is sprung, and the entire team is taken captive. Alice, however, escapes, returns to the Earth-plane and alerts Finn, who deserts his post in order to affect a rescue. Finn is successful, but when he, Carter and the surviving members of the team return to Earth, it’s too late to avert tragedy; an eldritch assassin using Alice’s body as a vessel slaughters Dr. Carter’s young family, striking a devastating blow to the heart of the Sleepers Team.
SEASON FOUR - SLEEPERS: REDEMPTION
Branded a criminal throughout the Globaru, expelled from Pachaug and estranged from Dr. Carter, Finn returns home to discover that his twin sisters Caitlin and Rebecca have begun to manifest powers as Sleepers. In his absence, they have independently been astrally breaching the margina and observing his work with the Pachaug Team.
Meanwhile, Dr. Carter begins collaborating with an old rival, Dr. Niles Overton, to forever shut down access to the margina.
Finn, however, discovers that sealing the alignment points between Earth and the other six spherae will only force open those between Chaos and the remaining five, allowing Azathoth and his daemon hordes unrestricted access and influence throughout the Globaru.
Intent on alerting Carter to the folly of his plan, Finn is forced to breach the veil as a rogue Sleeper. Using the contacts his sisters have forged in the underground to avoid capture and imprisonment, he attempts to intercede. In the end, Finn must choose between the life of his beloved mentor or forsaking the multiverse to occupation by the Lord of Chaos.
SEASON FIVE - SLEEPERS: CONGREGATION
Trapped between dimensions inside the margina, the Globaru under the crushing control of Azathoth and his minions, Finn and his sisters find themselves tapped as warriors within a growing Resistance. 9.
When they meet the underground’s leader, they’re stunned to find she is Alice Desmond; though her physical body is long-dead on the Earth-plane, her astral-self has survived inside the margina.
When the team uncovers the secret of the 93rd Configuration, a cosmic event in which the all seven spherae will align in such a way to obliterate the veil between the margina and the Earth Plane, Azathoth’s dark plan is revealed: To overrun the Earth Plane with overwhelming force, obliterate mankind and reclaim control over the Palum, thereby ruling all seven spherae that constitute the Multiverse.
SEASON SIX: SLEEPERS: THE 63RD CONFIGURATION
Upon the 63rd Configuration, Azathoth’s hordes stream into the Earth-plane, wreaking slaughter worldwide. The only way to save mankind is to forever seal the Globaru by harnessing the terrible power of the Palum via a mysterious artifact known only as The catenatio.
Located at the pit of the Ninth Circle of Chaos, Finn, Rebecca and Caitlin learn that the catenatio is not an artifact at all, but a person: the fallen angel Lucifer. And the only way to wield his power to vanquish Azathoth is to court the ultimate corruption. 10.
PILOT TREATMENT
Story by Daniel Knauf
FADE IN:
SUPER: THREE YEARS AGO
VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, VAN NUYS –– A BOY, FINN TALBOT, 15 years old, sleeps fitfully, his mother, VERONICA, still wearing her waitress uniform, deep asleep in a chair next to his bed.
Shreds of night gather and coalesce at the foot of his bed. Finn awakens in a state of paralysis, watching helplessly as an unspeakably hideous creature forms—RAGGEDY ROOTY, an eldritch thing, part crone, part bird-of-prey, known as a Gurath-yaa, or “Eater of Dreams.” She whips away his sheets, begins slowly crawling up the bed, talons plucking the hem of his hospital gown, revealing is nakedness. She dips her head, the moist, fouls- smelling, wet tissues under her beak-like carapace teasing him into arousal despite his gut-churning terror.
Suddenly, the door flies open and a creature of blinding golden light enters the room. The crone SHRIEKS, shredded instantly by the purifying light.
Finn bolts fully awake. A man stands before him, dressed in the white coat of an intern; a nametag that reads “PYM.” The man picks up his chart, scans it. He tells Finn he knows why he’s there, about the overdose of Adderall that nearly took his life. “You must sleep. Staying awake is not the answer.” He advises Finn that “the Sentinel” can only attack him when he enters REM sleep. He must, therefore, keep an alarm near his bedside set for 45- minute intervals, thereby interrupting Stage 3 sleep. The solution is not perfect. He will still suffer exhaustion. But for now, it is the only way.
“For now?” asks Finn. 11.
His mother stirs in her sleep. Finn glances at her for but a second, but when he turns back, Pym is gone…
SLAM TO:
SUPER: TODAY
PACHAUG UNIVERSITY, RHODE ISLAND – THE PRESENT – In the Alfred G. Krebs Building, the oldest building on campus, DENNIS BELL, a graduate student in his mid-20s cursed with a look of perpetual, blinking, Don-Knotts terror—bad haircut, prominent adams apple, played French horn in his high school marching band—studies at his desk in the sub-basement lab, which houses dozens of live exotic crypto-zoological creatures crawling, flying, scuttling, swimming, squirming and slithering in long rows of aquaria.
A metallic rattling prompts Dennis to take out his ear-buds. He nervously walks a circuit around the lab. He finds two agitated night gaunts blindly flying in a panic, crashing into the mesh of their large cave. A third lies dying on the floor, twitching and leaking black ichor.
Before Dennis can process what he’s seeing, the other specimens begin acting agitated— their chirps, clicks and weird cries echoing through the lab. Suddenly, a LOUD POUNDING. Terrified, Dennis turns and gazes at a stout iron door at the end of a corridor, sees it tremble, masonry dust drifting as its frame shudders with each blow from within.
DR. DOROTHY LEE is awakened by her shrilling phone. It’s Bell. “Dr. Lee? You better get down here. Something’s happening…”
RESEDA, CA. – Now eighteen years-old, Finn leans against his mop, fast asleep. A couple LETTERMEN sneak up on him, snickering as a CHEERLEADER looks on. Finn stirs, eyes fluttering open, and comes face to face with Raggedy Rooty!
Before he can react... one of the boys kicks the mop. Finn, still deep asleep, nearly falls over, the girl cackling as the two athletes bray laughter. His manager, SUSAN, approaches; tells him now that he has finished high school, she’d like to recommend him for full time, but he can’t be sleeping when he’s clocked in. He mutters about his disorder and she suggests that he “drink more coffee.”
After work, restless, stressed, he wanders into his family’s darkened apartment, calls out for her and his twin sisters, REBECCA and CAITLIN. No one home. A note: His mom is working a late shift and the girls are sleeping over at his Aunt Janet’s. Finn decides to busy himself by organizing the pile of bills and junk-mail piling up on the kitchen table. There, he finds an acceptance letter and offer of full scholarship from the Admissions Department of Pachaug University, an obscure institution located in the isolated woods of Rhode Island. 12.
The deadline, however, passed three weeks prior. Finn calls the college and is relieved to ascertain the offer still stands, but classes begin the following Monday.
GERTRUDE BEARDSLEY, Executive Assistant to University President KELSEY WITHERS and Director of Admissions, enters an office marked “DR. A. GORDON CARTER, DEAN, SLEEP STUDIES DEPT.” She finds a man seated at a desk, wearing ruby-lensed industrial goggles, his back to her as he examines test-tubes full of powder glowing under an ultraviolet lamp.
Bursting with the news, Gertrude gushes that she just got off the phone with Finnian Talbot; he’ll be arriving Sunday night. One problem, though; there’s not a single bed to be had in any of the dormitories except for Dexter Hall. “He’ll be fine,” Carter mutters. Gertrude seems perturbed, replies she’ll see to arrangements. As soon as she steps out, Carter pushes the goggles up and turns, an expression of quiet anticipation on his familiar face. He is the same individual we met in the teaser, “PYM.”
THE FOLLOWING DAY - Finn has little time to mentally prepare for this wholly unexpected development in his life, only to pack his battered Honda Civic and drive across-country from Reseda to the wilds of Rhode Island.
As he packs his Civic with his worldly possessions, his mother, VERONICA TALBOT, peppers him with advice he has no intention of following, from being sure to “join some clubs” to looking into fraternities. His twin sisters, Caitlin and Rebecca, look on woefully, sad to say goodbye to their older brother, but happy that he may actually escape the ass- end of The Valley and make something of himself. After tearful hugs, Finn gets in his car and initiates the first leg of a journey that will transport him much, much farther than he can even begin to know.
MUSICAL MONTAGE – JUMP-CUTS of Finn speeding across the country, to “BLUE BOY” by MAC DEMARCO, sleeping in his car, eating fast-food behind the wheel as he passes various landmarks.
RHODE ISLAND – TWILIGHT – After two days of driving non-stop, Finn enters the eerily silent and uninhabited village of Chepachet, the sole community within 100 miles of Pachaug. Tank near empty, he pauses to fuel up at Phil’s Gas’n’Go, only to find the station locked and shuttered. Though reluctant, Finn has no choice but to brave the last twenty miles of crumbling blacktop to the university.
Finn does not pass a single vehicle as he motors up the dark, winding road through clotted brush and old-growth hardwood forest. Without a cell-signal, far from help, he runs out of gas five miles shy of the cutoff to the university. Worse, the sun is setting. He decides to abandon the car and hoof it on foot.
As the sun sinks, the forest, gloomy even by daylight, becomes increasingly dark. He discerns fluttering movement out of the corner of his eye—to the left; the right; above him in the vaulted tunnel of tangled limbs above the road. NIGHT GAUNTS, faceless black 13. winged creatures, blind and silent as they possess neither eyes nor mouths; they begin diving, oily black wings brushing Finn from all directions, instilling terror and revulsion.
He begins running up the road, batting the creatures away, fighting a compelling instinct to abandon the path and plunge into the forest, to a place so choked with brush the raptors cannot follow. Soon, he is covered with a living shroud of twitching, membranous wings, clumsily pirouetting down the black road like a man on fire.
A sudden glaring wash of bright headlights, and the creatures explode away from him like a startled murder of crows. Dazed, Finn stands in the middle of the road as a BMW bears down on him, swerving and braking to a sudden stop next to him. The passenger window glides down. A striking blonde, 20, leans across the seat, blinks at him. A cupid’s-bow smile.
“Need a lift?”
The ride to Pachauk is a quiet one, Finn doing his best to process the odd attack; the girl chattily explaining that the winged aberrations are called night gaunts. They really are quite harmless and feed on the fear of their victims. The best defense, of course is to remain unafraid. They pull up to the Administration Building. As Finn numbly climbs out, ALICE DESMOND introducing herself, proffering her hand. Shaking it limply, Finn states his first name and she interrupts with his last, “—Talbot, I know. See you soon.” Before he can reply, she pops first gear and guns away, the passenger door slamming shut.
Taped to the door of the Admissions Office, Finn discovers a manila envelope with his name scrawled across the front. Inside it, he finds a set of three keys, a campus map, his class schedule and a letter from Gertrude Beardsley. Her words in V.O.—welcoming him to Pachaug, informing that his first class is scheduled for the next morning and urging him to visit her office “as soon as possible” to complete his paperwork—cover Finn’s walk across the quad, past the elegant 19th century stone edifices that make up the university; the brightly lit, more contemporary student housing complexes. Referencing the campus map, he crunches down a leaf-strewn path of broken flagstones that lead to a lonely four story building on the edge of campus buildings.
Built in the early 20th Century Craftsman style with vaguely Japanese design elements— wide eaves, broad terraces and balconies—Dexter Hall is identified by a weathered green brass plaque mounted next to the main entrance. Finding the door locked, he knocks. No response. He calls out hello, but is answered only by silence. Remembering the keys, he fishes them from the envelope and tries until one of them turns the bolt.
Upon entering the dormitory, Finn is immediately embraced by warm light. The interiors of the lobby and main student lounge and library are a welcome contrast to the forbidding exterior, with overstuffed sofas and chairs, Tiffany-style floor lamps, antique persian carpets and oak-paneled walls. Fires crackle in the hearths of the two main public spaces. Finn sees a few other students—a boy reading Chaucer in a wingback chair, a couple engaged in an intense, whispered conversation on the window-seat and a studious- 14. looking girl perusing the card catalogue. They acknowledge his arrival with serene, polite smiles and nods.
Exhausted, traumatized by the strange assault on the road and the subsequent, surreal conversation with Alice, Finn approaches the girl at the card-catalogue, asking if he needs to check in with anyone. She seems pleased but regards him with an expression of vague curiosity, tell him to check in with the R.A., Dennis Bell in 201. He thanks her and introduces himself. The girl gives him a feckless, crooked smile, telling him her name is ANDREA. As she returns to her task, he can’t help but notice the faint white scars traversing her wrists.
Finn finds 201 at the top of the stairs. After prolonged knocking, the door is opened a crack by Dennis Bell, the student we met earlier during the strange disturbance in the sub- basement of the Krebs building. He peers under the chain at Finn as if not sure whether the visitor is real or phantasmic. Finn introduces himself and Bell relaxes (only slightly) stammers a half-hearted welcome and tells him his room is all made up. 207, left at the end of the hallway. As Finn thanks him and moves off, Bell advises him to not “wander around” after midnight.” When Finn inquires why, Bell responds cryptically, “It’s just not a good idea,” and closes his door.
Disconcerted, Finn walks down long hallways, occasionally hearing muffled conversations behind the doors as he passes: laughter, students reciting poetry or practicing phrases in foreign languages. And music--here a violin; there a strumming guitar.
Upon opening the door to ROOM 207, Finn is pleased to find he has been assigned an expansive private chamber on the second floor with a corner view of the campus, a soft bed and a cheery fire in a small cast-iron stove. He steps though French doors out onto a broad sleeping-porch which offers a splendid view across the quad lawn to the university buildings.
A little stunned by his luck—to have suddenly and completely unexpectedly swapped a dead-end life for this amazing room and a four-year free ride at a university 3,000 miles from home. It seems too good to be true…
The glow of a distant cigarette draws his attention. Fifty yards off, he sees a figure down on one of the quad pathways—stooped, wearing a strangely formal black three-piece suit, a head of beard of platinum white hair. From this distance, his visage is vaguely mime- like—his eyes, two black holes set in a preternaturally white skin, a compressed, broad mouth. Finn raises a hand. The figure doesn’t return the wave, abruptly turns and starts away, his broad, powerful stride belying his seemingly advanced age.
Exhausted, Finn returns to his room and wearily moves through his odd nighttime routine, stripping down to skivvies, sliding under the covers of his bed, turning out the light and setting the alarm on his iPhone for 45 minutes. He almost immediately falls into a deep, dreamless slumber. PUSH IN on his phone, the BATTERY ICON BLINKING RED, then SHUTTING DOWN… 15.
In a cluttered apartment in the clock-tower of the Peaslee Library, Dr. Carter sits with Drs. STEPHEN CREW and Dorothy Lee. She expresses concern regarding the recent behavior of her live specimens in the Krebs library; she’s already lost a breeding pair of Deep Ones and is concerned the disturbances may have something to do with Finn Talbot’s arrival at Pachaug. Carter tells Crew that Finn was “referred.” When questioned, Crew explains that over the last decade, someone has been leaving unsigned notes in his mailbox, all of which have offered the names and locations of Sleep Studies recruits. Each has proven to be Sleepers with extraordinarily high natural C3 stats of 0.25 or better—
“—and numb-nuts has made sure the last three got housed in Dexter hall,” interrupts a new arrival as he opens the door and enters, hanging his coat up It’s the figure Finn saw on the quad, MAA’CHU, who turns and reveals his countenance: sporting a pelt of long silky white fur, Maa’chu is a living example of the mythic creature called the yeti or “abominable snowman. The professors, however, are unfazed by his unusual appearance.
Carter tells them Gertrude Beasley is working on transferring Finn over to another dorm ASAP. Maa’chu scowls, lighting up a cigarette. “Better make it quick. One night in there and he might bug on us.” When Lee pointedly coughs at the second-hand smoke, he tells her to go fuck herself. The three settle in to discuss who might be the mysterious source of the referrals. Carter says he’ll talk to Knowles in A.V. and see if he can obtain and set up a game-camera to catch the culprit in the act.
MOVING POV: IN THE COLD DARKNESS, something outside gathers itself. The nocturnal sounds of the woods—birdsong, the buzz and chirp of insects—comes to an abrupt, ominous silence.
A gut-churning beat, then something malevolent—HUGGING THE GROUND, chuckling exhalations that mimic the wind, directed gusts scattering dead leaves, we move steadily, inexorably through the woods toward Dexter Hall and up the flagstone steps. A feral cat devouring a dead mouse abandons its prize with a startled yowl as we traverse the porch, dip and slip through the gap between the foot of the door and the threshold.
Downstairs, DEXTER HALL is dark, illuminated by errant shafts of BLUE MOONLIGHT, strangely desolate, the carpets threadbare, floors dull and dusty. Up the steps to the second floor, gaining momentum as we’re drawn to our quarry, the whispered madhouse giggles punctuated with raspy incantations uttered in a foul, guttural language devised for no human tongue. A steady rise as we turn the corner and are…
… BLOCKED by Andrea flanked by TWO OF THE OTHER STUDENTS we saw downstairs. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking ingress to 207. Faces bone-white, gaunt, strands of gossamer hair as vaporous as incense smoke, eyes SOLID BLACK ORBS OF POLISHED ONYX. Their expressions are masks of fixed determination as Andrea steps forward and commands us to “Begone.”
With a mournful WAIL we are expelled, hurtling backward down the hall, the stairs, the FRONT DOOR FLYING OPEN and SLAMMING SHUT in our face. 16.
The next morning, Finn is shocked to awaken to the chime of tower-bells in full daylight. He checks his phone for the time, but it’s dead; runs out onto the porch and checks the clock-tower of the Charlotte Peaslee Library; sees it’s almost eight o’clock. He hurriedly scans his class-schedule and notes that his first class, Sleep Studies Lab, has already begun. Shit.
In his haste to get to class, Finn fails to notice that the downstairs public areas, so cozy and inviting when he arrived, seem cold and strangely desolate by the morning light. He doesn’t see a soul as he moves heedlessly for the front door.
At the top of the flagstone path into the quad, he’s startled to find his Civic being unhooked from the hitch of a battered old green Ford pickup truck by the grizzled university caretaker and handyman, WALT KRENTZMAN. The old man tells him he gassed up the car and that while he was at it, he changed the oil, spark-plugs and gave it a tune- up. When Finn asks how much he owes, Krentzman waves off the inquiry as if it’s ridiculous.
“No charge. I’ll park her around back,” adding with a smirk, “should be plenty of spaces.” Too rushed to ask what the Hell that means, Finn dashes off to class.
Dr. Carter is in mid-lecture when Finn enters the classroom. He finds Alice and half-a- dozen other students taking notes as Carter explains the critical symbiosis between the “Sleeper” and his or her “Familiar.” Finn immediately recognizes him—the mysterious intern who visited him in the hospital three years prior.
Stunned, he stands frozen at the door, eyes locked on Carter, who seems pleased to see him, introduces him to the others in the class. He turns the room over to his T.A., BARTON ROGERS, 22, and quietly takes Finn aside, asking him to accompany him to his office for a brief conference.
Finn demands to know who Carter is and why did he visit him. Carter is perplexed, seems genuinely baffled… then curious. It’s clear he’s never seen Finn in his life. He asks him the circumstances of their meeting. “What did I look like?” Finn, who’s now certain he’s being fucked with, blurts the other question that’s been plaguing him since receipt of his acceptance letter, “What the Hell am I doing here?” Carter tells him the answer to that question remains to be seen, but if Finn is wondering whether he belongs at Pachaug, the answer is categorically and positively yes; his qualifications have been minutely vetted and there is no doubt regarding his potential.
“As a matter of fact,” Carter adds, “we’ve had our eye on you for quite some time.”
It’s clear Finn has a thousand questions, which Carter assures him will be answered “in time,” but suggests he start by visiting Gertrude Beardsley in the Admissions Office to complete his paperwork. 17.
He hands Finn a scuffed copy of their Graduate Level Sleep Studies textbook, On Dreams and Dreaming by his great-grandfather, Maynard Carter, tells him to take good care of it— there are only fourteen copies in existence. Finn is startled: graduate level? He’s a freshman. Carter smiles, telling him he’s certain Finn will be more than up to the curriculum. Carter then hands over a syllabus and a list of required textbooks for his course of study that he can pick up at the campus bookstore.
Carter urges Finn to immediately dive into On Dreams and Dreaming, “It’s a challenging read, but I know you’ll find it very interesting. It’ll answer a lot of your questions—not only about why you’re at Pachaug, but about the circumstances that brought you here.” Carter tells Finn he’d like him to return later that evening to go over a few lab protocols and get a sense of the work being done in Sleep Studies.
In the hallway, THOMAS PEASLEE, 19, wearing the hyper-square togs of a Cartography mook, eavesdrops on their conversation. He calls DR. AMIR CARPATHIAN, who is very interested to hear that Carter has a fresh recruit.
As Finn is leaving, Carter apologizes for his accommodations at Dexter Hall; assures him it’s temporary and that he’ll “personally see to it” that Finn is transferred to a more comfortable dorm as soon as possible. A little confused, Finn demurs, tells him he’s fine where he is. Carter scrutinizes him, curious, and asks, “Did you sleep well?” Finn nods— only then fully realizing what an odd (and welcome) development an uninterrupted, restful night’s sleep really is.
Finn meets with Gertrude Beardsley, a bustling, plump Southern mother hen of a woman who chatters non-stop as he signs various applications, forms and waivers. He’s startled to see that most of them have already been filled out with a surprising amount of accuracy. He asks how it is they know so much about him—not only the basics such as academic transcripts, but confidential information such as the names of family members and medical history. She waves it off as “routine,” quickly changing the subject to various aspects of campus life and snips of gossip and Pachaug history.
(Among dozens of chirpy facts, we learn that A. Gordon Carter is an “absolute doll and sooo intelligent;” that Pachaug was the real life inspiration for “Mr. Lovecraft’s silly Miskatonic University in those tawdry stories he wrote;” that the current University President, Kelsey Withers, is a “colorless, snippy little bureaucrat who hasn’t the slightest charm or intellectual curiosity” of his predecessor, Dr. Stephen Crew, “who was an adorable, charming, lovely man!”)
Meanwhile, with growing dread, Finn reviews a waiver releasing the university from any liability for his:
… death, dismemberment, disfigurement, disambiguation, suicide, homicide, paralysis and/or coma (accidental or induced); psychological syndromes, disorders, deterioration and/or obliteration; spiritual corruption, destruction, degeneration and/or ruination. 18.
When he inquires, Gertrude insists it’s a “boiler-plate;” a whole lot of “hooey” the lawyers insist on. Finn tells her he’d feel better if he could review it in detail before signing, if she doesn’t mind. Though it’s clear she does, Gertrude nevertheless breezily tells him to “take his time,” with the not-so-subtle caveat that she can’t start the rest of his paperwork until the waiver has been executed.
Gertrude keys open a file drawer; withdraws a packet which includes a Catalogue of Classes, a Pachaug University window decal for his car, a key-ring sporting a squishy blue rubber Cthulu fob and a copy of the Walter Gilman Memorial Academic Alliance Student Handbook, carefully folding and inserting carbon copies of Finn’s paperwork into the pocket of the folio. As Carter did previously, she begs pardon for his “temporary” placement in Dexter Hall and, as Carter did earlier, betrays astonishment when Finn insists that he would be perfectly happy to make Dexter his permanent residence.
DR. ALLISON RIGGS. Mid-30s, attractive, is busy working on a complex formula on a blackboard in her office when Dr. Carpathian drops by to deliver the news that Gordon Carter’s recruited a new Sleeper. Her annoyance at the interruption is immediately eclipsed by intense interest in Finnian Talbot.
Finn shops for texts at the university bookstore, an emporium that, at first glance, exhibits all the trappings of a typical student store—textbooks, office supplies, logo-wear. However, upon even cursory examination, the Pachaug Shoppe is decidedly unique. Many of the t-shirts, sweats, coffee mugs and swag feature a Cthulu motif, celebrating the school’s purported H. P. Lovecraft connection.
More striking is the selection of icons, fetishes, amulets and magic ephemera displayed in display cases, tables, nooks and crannies throughout the emporium. Behind the main counter, a full apothecary, sagging shelves cluttered with mismatched jars, bottles and canisters bearing handwritten labels—some in elegantly fluid script, others in jagged chicken-scrawl: Burdock Root, Horny Goat Weed, Hemlock, Dragon’s Blood, Devil’s Shoe Strings. Just as striking are his fellow patrons, a mix of Goths, punks and alt-esoteric-Emo types peppered with clots of Cartography majors in their buzzcuts (for the boys), pageboys (for the girls), short-sleeve white dress shirts, pocket protectors and skinny black ties.
Alice, busy carving sigils into a candle, looks up to see Finn approaching, overloaded with books. She smiles, asks how he's doing. He admits it’s all a bit overwhelming. As she writes up his order and gives him a thumbnail description of each of his professors, INTERCUT WITH various telling MOS pops of DRS. Allison Riggs (Paraphysics), Amir Carpathian (Cartography) and DOROTHY LEE (Xenomorphic Biology).
As she finishes, Finn asks how much he owes for the textbooks. Alice replies that the costs of all texts, materials and supplies are included in his scholarship. She smiles slyly and slips a Cthulu hoodie he had his eye on into the bag as a gift.
“From Pachaug?” asks Finn. 19.
“No,” she replies with a smile, “from me.” She then invites him to join her and some friends later that night at a local off-campus bar, The Innsmouth Tavern in Chepachet. Finn demurs; he’d like to—he really would—but he’s underage and they’re bound to card him. Besides, he’s got to meet Dr. Carter for some kind of assessment. She assures him everything will be okay, and if he finishes up in time, the Innsmouth isn’t real strict about carding. They part, Finn thrilled by what appears to be a budding friendship with a hot girl on his very first day.
It’s twilight when Finn finally arrives back at Dexter Hall, where he finds a painfully thin live-wire of a girl, KELLIE POLIDORI, nervously pacing the front porch. After introductions, she tells him that she’s there to join him for his “assessment.” Finn has no idea what she’s talking about and she replies that Dr. Carter will explain everything.
When they arrive at the Sleep Studies lab on the third floor of the Psychology Wing in the Darrow Fillmore School of Medicine, Carter enthusiastically greets him. He gives Finn a brief tour of the lab, explaining how the Ettinger sleep chamber works, that “after synchronizing biometrics, up to three individuals can share dreams.” Finn charily regards the device, and Carter reassures him not to worry. He won’t be using the Ettinger device. Finn will be undergoing a standard sleep-study assessment—no bells or whistles.
They move into a small examining room that contains the accouterments of a characterless hospital room—a fully made bed and nightstand augmented by a biometric monitors and wired with video cameras mounted up in all four corners near the ceiling. Carter asks Finn to take off his shirt and sit on the bed.
Turning his back, blocking Finn’s view, Carter draws a dose of Mesmertol into a syringe— larger than usual, apparently, given the expression of surprise on Kellie’s face. He turns to Finn and quickly administers the injection, telling him it’s a mild sedative. Finn is alarmed, begins to object about his sleep disorder. Carter interrupts him; they know all about his condition. He promises to awaken Finn “at the first sign of distress.” As Kellie helps tape sensors to Finn’s torso, it becomes apparent from his drooping eyes that the drug is far more than “mild.”
They dim the lights, shut the door and leave Finn alone. He’s fast asleep seconds after his head hits the pillow.
In the lab, Kellie remarks on the size of the dose. Carter tells her he wants to accelerate Finn phase three REM. “Maybe we can catch that bitch with her pants down.” He takes his seat at a monitoring station, watching the four images of Finn on flat-screens, scrolling through filters—standard, infrared, ultraviolet—closely watching the biometric data flowing in—pulse, respiration, EEG. “Yeah, Rooty,” he mutters, “there’s a new sheriff in town.” He turns to Kellie, says, “Go ahead. Just in case he travels.”
Kellie sighs, takes a seat at another station and opens her Atlas—hand-drawn maps of unfamiliar places called “The West,” “Ulthar” and “The Plains of Leng.” She dons odd eyewear--opaque matt-black photic stimulation goggles (PSGs) she has decorated with 20. rhinestones and decoden skulls and roses. She jacks them into her laptop and activates them. Behind the smoked translucent lenses, bright LEDs flash in complex patterns.
In the nearby township of Chepachet, at the INNSMOUTH TAVERN, a popular off-campus food and drink establishment frequented by faculty and students, Alice, Barton and several other Sleepers decompress over pizza and pitchers of lager. Alice seems distracted. Slightly drunk, Barton inquires, placing a hand on her thigh under the table. She pointedly removes it, gets up and heads to the restroom, past a booth where and Drs. Allison Riggs and Kelsey Withers discuss Carter’s newest recruit, Finnian Talbot, over a bottle of Riesling.
Withers informs Allison that, despite Finn’s “less than lackluster academic record,” Carter awarded the boy a Gilman scholarship under his authority as department Dean. He won’t last, chuckles Withers, telling her that due to “student housing shortages” he made sure Talbot was assigned to Dexter Hall “just like the last three of Carter’s Gilman Scholars.” Riggs is amused; Talbot won’t last a week. Withers request a check and they ready to leave.
In the Sleep Studies lab, Finn’s biometrics trend to the high-frequency EEG waveforms indicative of Stage 3 REM sleep. He alerts Kellie, asks if he’s “punched through the margina.” A little confused, she responds, he hasn’t, stammers, “He’s… he’s... oh shit, he’s right—“
“Here,” says Finn, now fully dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, standing behind Carter. Startled, the professor almost falls out of his chair. The two check the monitors, see Finn still fast asleep in the adjoining examination room. Carter trails off “This is…”
“… impossible,” says Kellie. Finn gives them a vague smile and a shrug, then dematerializes, his particulate astral essence rocketing up through the ceiling.
“Find him!” exclaims Carter.
Kellie bears down and focuses and we briefly switch to her familiar, an ash-white salamander that pursues Finn, deftly scuttles up his sutratma, the invisible braided “silver cord” that connects his astral to his Earth-bound body.
FINN’S ASTRAL POV – rocketing in ramped bursts over the Pachaug campus, then over and through the woods, zigging and zagging through the trees, startling night gaunts from their roosts.
Finn’s sutratma trails from the base of his skull, trailing behind him where Kellie’s small amphibious familiar attempts to catch up with him. In the lab, she gives Carter the play- by-play: “He’s headed west through the woods…
FINN’S ASTRAL POV – With a surge of pure, breathtaking speed, he hurtles west, zipping through the St. Louis Arch, across the Mississippi and the Great Plains, over the 21. treacherous peaks of the Rocky Mountains and down, down toward a glittering carpet of lights…
“Where the fuck is he?” asks Carter?
Kellie helplessly checks her maps. Frustrated, she shoves them aside. “I don’t… I can’t keep up… I’ve never been…”
“Been where?!”
Her eyes widen, the LEDs flashing. “Los Angeles?”
RESEDA – Rebecca and Caitlin are in their bedroom working on a class project when Finn suddenly appears behind them. “Finn!” they shout, overjoyed and leaping to their feet to give him a hug. He embraces them. “You’re supposed to be in Rhode Island!” exclaims Rebecca, Caitlin adding, “What are you doing here?” Finn, mystified, tells them he doesn’t know. A knock at the door and his mother’s voice, “Girls…?” As the door opens, Finn again dematerializes and shoots up through the ceiling.
Kellie shouts to Dr. Carter. Finn is on the move again, this time returning in seconds back to…
CHEPACHET – FINN’S POV – sweeping down to ground level, approaching the Innsmouth Tavern as Drs. Riggs and Withers exit the bar and approach their cars. She asks him how the university budget is coming along and he reassures her that she’ll be “very happy” with her department’s allocation for the term, adding with a smirk, “Carter and Lee, not so much.” Before we suddenly soar skyward and dive-bomb toward…
INNSMOUTH TAVERN – RESTROOM – Alice washes her hands at a basin in front of a mirror. She glances down to shut off the water and, when she looks up, Finn is standing directly behind her! She smiles, turns. “Hey! You’re not supposed to be in here.” She smiles, “You finish your assessment? How’d it go?” Finn stammers, “It’s… it’s still going.” Alice knits her eyebrows, perplexed. Suddenly, Finn’s face assumes a curious expression and he once again explodes into a particulate swarm, jetting up through the ceiling.
Instantly realizing the astonishing ramifications of what she’s just witnessed, Alice utters “holy shit” and bolts from the restroom.
SLEEP STUDIES LAB – Kellie shouts, “He’s back!” Carter asks if Finn’s “reintegrated” and, stripping off her goggles, Kellie confirms he has. A sudden and alarming rise in Finn’s heart rate draws their attention to the monitors.
“Fuck me…” murmurs Carter
In the examining room, again paralyzed in bed, Finn gazes helplessly at the hideous form of Raggedy Rooty solidifying at the foot of his bed. Outside the examination room, Kellie 22. turns the latch but the door is frozen shut. Carter joins her, the two throwing their combined weight against the door. Though it gives, it’s slammed shut by an equal counter- force.
Carter shatters a glass cabinet mounted on the wall containing a fire-extinguisher, grabs it and begins using it to batter a hole through the hollow-core door.
Powerless, unable to move, Finn watches as Raggedy Rooty takes full form. Throwing her arms akimbo, talons bared, she throws back her head and SHRIEKS—a gurgling inhuman roar; deafening, primal.
Enraged, she coils and springs, driving talons down with eviscerating intent; to tear and slash and obliterate! She sweeps one claw toward Finn’s face and at the last possible moment, the DOOR CRASHES OPEN, flooding the room with light, Carter and Kellie rushing to his bedside, stripping off the sensors and helping Finn sit up as he coughs and shudders, struggling for breath…
SLEEP STUDIES LAB – LATER – As Kellie applies disinfectant to a GLANCING CUT on Finn’s jaw, Dr. Carter debriefs him on his experience; he’s particularly interested in the conversation Finn overheard between Withers and Allison Riggs.
The door flies open and Alice charges in, taking in the tableau. She pulls Dr. Carter aside and asks him what the Hell is going on? When he tries to pass it off as a common assessment, she interrupts, “He was here. On this side! Travelling!” Noting that Finn’s attention has been drawn to the hushed but tense exchange, she asks him how he is. He tells her he’s okay; exhausted but okay. Throwing a withering glance at Carter, she protectively helps Finn to his feet and offers to walk him back to his dorm.
On their way out, Finn pauses and turns to Carter. “Did you get anything… weird on camera?” he asks. Carter shoots Kellie a brief warning glance, then replies, “No. Not a thing.” He and Alice exit.
Later, In Maa’chu’s apartment, on screen we see U.V. video; four angles of the last moments of Finn’s sleep assessment. Raggedy Rooty appears as a looming, vaporous, humanoid-shaped void of blackness. She crouches and leaps, blown apart by the light cascading through the splintered door. Carter rewinds, freezes the image.
“Shit,” grumbles Maa’chu, “an arch-chimaera…”
Case concurs, “Spawn of Shub-Niggurath, sister-wife of Azathoth himself.” Turns to Carter. “What’re we dealing with here, Artie?” Carter shakes his head. “He’s a prodigy. Earth- walking like it was nothing. Coast to coast. Unbelievable. One thing is clear; Azathoth wants to keep a lid on him. He’s a threat. He could be what we’ve been waiting for.”
“But he has to get past that bitch first,” says Maa’chu, tapping the screen with his finger. 23.
Carter sighs, nods, “If he’s strong enough to warrant an A.C. for a sentinel, he’s strong enough to take her out.”
“We’ll see,” says Crew.
“Yeah,” replies Carter, switching off the monitors, “we’ll see.”
Finn and Alice walk down the path across the quad. She tells him to read the section in his textbook about Class 3 Transportive dreams. “That’s what you were doing. What we all do in sleep studies,” she explains, “The thing is…” She trails off. He looks at her. “We go to… other places. You’ll understand more when you read ‘On Dreams.’” She tells him what he did, “travelling here—on this plane—in astral form. It’s rare. Some people think it’s impossible. It just doesn’t work that way.”
Well, “says Finn, vaguely proud, “I guess it works that way for me.”
She stops short outside Dexter House. Alice regarding the darkened residence with a pensive, involuntary shudder. Finn asks her if she wants to hang out for a while in his room.
“This is where they put you?” she asks.
“Yeah,” he replies. “For the time being anyway. I’m fine with it.”
She’s incredulous. “You are?”
Finn hesitates, then “All I know is that I was able to sleep last night. All night. The last time I did that was when I was 12, the night before Halloween. Ever since…” He shakes his head, meets her eyes and says, “I can sleep here. I really need to get some sleep.”
Alice looks at the dark circles under Finn’s eyes; his face, aged prematurely. So much pain. She takes his hand and kisses him on the cheek. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” she says. She turns and starts away up the path. He watches her for a moment, then turns and gazes at Dexter Hall, eyes somber.
After a long moment of silent contemplation, Finn makes his way to the door…
To enter…
To sleep…
To dream, and we…
SLAM OUT TO BLACK
24.
THE WORLD
Pachaug University was established by a group of benefactors, educators and scientists. It offers traditional curricula in liberal arts and science. However, if one looks closely—or knows where to look—a number of unusual course offerings may be found.2
Funded by a grant from the Pachaug University Board of Regents, The Walter Gillman Memorial Academic Alliance is comprised of the Schools of Sleep Studies, Paraphysics, Xenomorphic Biology and Cartography.
Though allied, all four departments are autonomous and distinct in their organization and internal culture. Each is issued annual grants based on progress in their respective disciplines over the previous academic year—an arrangement originally devised to foster “healthy competition” which has, over the years, resulted in a toxic institutional culture of ruthless campus politics, pitting students, staff, faculty and administrators against one another as embittered intellectual rivals.
Over the ensuing years, the schools have calcified into strongholds, with virtually no collaboration or intermingling of theories and information beyond the bare minimum as dictated by the Alliance’s formal rules and protocols. Though superficially collegial, some recalcitrant students, staffs, faculty and administrators became embittered intellectual foes engaged in a passive-aggressive cold war that occasionally erupted into shouting matches and even physical confrontations. 3
2 The study of non-Earth-plane-based creatures, for instance, is not designated “Crypto-zoology,” but Xenomorphic Biology (or “X-Bio” among its students its labs, library and extensive collection of specimens occupying a difficult-to-find, keycard secured sub-basement level under the Alfred G. Krebs Life Sciences Building).
3 Intramural sports were banned within the four departments in 1938 following the notorious Grommit-Stendal incident during a lacrosse match between Paraphysics and Sleep Studies. 25.
SLEEP STUDIES DEPARTMENT
The study of lucid directed-dreaming is conducted on the third floor of the Psychology Wing of the university’s Darrow Fillmore School of Medicine under the general designation of Sleep Studies. While other departments are limited to Multiverse theory, navigation and observation, Sleep Studies is the only discipline within The Academic Alliance in which faculty are authorized to actually conduct field research accessing the spherae through the discipline of lucid dreaming.
Student explorers, referred to in research literature as narconauts (though more colloquially as Sleepers), are the point of the spear in the exploration of the multiverse. Though Class 3 Tranportive dreaming is possible with no technological or pharmacological aids, in order to send multiple individuals to the same destination, Sleepers must employ biometric synchronization technology (BST).
Narconauts are wired with sensors and probes, reclining in the Sleep Studies Lab’s Ettinger sleep chamber where, utilizing digital feedback protocols, their biometrics— heartbeats, alpha-waves, respiration—are synchronized and regulated, permitting multiple Sleepers to engage in Cooperative Dream Activity (or CDA).4
The department also uses a number of pharmacological agents to enhance or prolong the dream-cycle, primarily the experimental benzodiazepine, Mesmertol (mesmerzepam hydrochloride)5
PARAPHYSICS DEPARTMENT
Housed in the new state-of-the-art Arthur and Agatha Feeney Hall, The Paraphysics Department is devoted to the study of the quantum mechanics
4 Without synchronizing biometrics and, consequently, neural harmonics, even if two Sleepers arrive at the same destination, they will be locked into separate timelines and, therefore, will be unable to hear or see one another. This is known as being (or falling) “out of scync.” It should be noted that synchronization anomalies are common, and often precede the conclusion of a CDA.
5 All incoming Sleep Studies students are required to undergo a full medical and mental health assessment including an allergy panel and provide a physician’s written approval prior to attending his or her first day of class. 26. behind the multiverse, developing mathematical models in pursuit of predicting its movements and consequent events. Of particular practical interest is the mechanism of the margina, and the seemingly random generation of vortices between spherae.
Significant progress has been made in the discipline of Paraphysics. Even simple mathematical models—considered impossible a mere three decades ago—have been developed with the assistance of computers capable of running thousands of equations a second. Nevertheless, with literally millions of variables, the mechanics of the Globaru will take generations to unravel.
The advances made so far are promising, and the potential benefits of physical interdimensional travel is such that Pachaug has placed increasing emphasis on supporting the department and its devoted and brilliant team of rising stars.
CARTOGRAPHICS DEPARTMENT
Applying the discipline of “remote viewing,” the Cartographics Department is tasked with the vital role of recording and mapping the geography of the spherae in order to build upon the hard-won discoveries yielded over the last century by the intrepid explorers of the Sleep Studies Department.
Cartographics is housed in the warrens of a soot-stained, turreted Victorian pile of granite, bricks and rotting fish-scale shingles, Peaslee House, a rambling mansion that was once the ancestral home of the Peaslee family.
Remote viewers not only as function as cartographers, but as invaluable "eyes in the sky,” observing, navigating, directing and monitoring the progress of Sleepers through the often treacherous unexplored territories of the multiverse.
Their process is facilitated by the use of avatara, (or, colloquially, Familiars), manifesting the essence of the cartographer’s disembodied consciousness in the form of a small animal—an insect, reptile, rodent—which traverses the sutratma.6
6 The invisible braided “silver cord” that connects the Sleeper’s astral and physical bodies.
27.
The cartographer “perches” his or her Familiar on the cord high above the Sleeper, whispering instructions into the sutratma, which are heard by the Sleeper in a similar fashion to a private telephone call. The Sleeper can likewise respond and carry on a dialogue with the Familiar.7
Familiars can be identified by their distinctive flat, ash-white coloration, taking the forms of small agile creatures—salamanders, mice, spiders, monkeys, and occasionally hybrids or “mythics” such as miniature griffins and dragons.
Familiars must maintain tactile contact with the sutratma at all times, and cannot descend lower than an altitude of 100 meters. Either will result in “going solid”—suffering a catastrophic metamorphosis from an astral to physical constitution; flesh and blood; weight and mass. In the cases in which this has occurred, cartographers have slipped into irreversible comas. Meanwhile, their astral consciousness, marooned in an alternate dimension, is slowly subsumed by the inborn mind and instincts of the creatures in which they are imprisoned.
XENOMORPHIC BIOLOGY BEPARTMENT
Due to the natural movements of the multiverse, vortices often open in the margina, allowing the passage of creatures and fauna between spherae. Though most only survive seconds in an alien ecosystem, a select few thrive in Earth’s environment. Both living and dead specimens are collected in the sub-basement of the Alfred G. Krebs Life Sciences Building.
7 The connection between the Sleeper and the Familiar is not telepathic, utilizing the sutratma solely a medium of communication. 28.
Most species considered “mythic” find their origins in alternate dimensions—from Sasquatch to Dragons, vampires to ghouls. The Xenomorphic Biology Department’s main mission is to investigate reports of these creatures, track them down and obtain living, dead or fossilized samples for research purposes.
Thousands of preserved extra-dimensional specimens are stored in the musty maze-like basement halls of Krebs Hall, from microscopic protozoa to the fully articulated skeleton of a dagon, the gargantuan species of marine lizard from the South Sphera whose presence in our world is credited as the origin of crypto-zoological beasts such as sea and lake serpents.
Less known are the as a surprising number of live creatures crawling, swimming, squirming and slithering in the rows of aquaria stored in the basement as well as an adult female GU’L from The Enchanted Wood of the West Sphera.8
THE DREAMLANDS
The reality-matrix which quantum physicists call the “multiverse.” Though there are at least seven spherae in the Globaru including our own, only four have been penetrated, explored and mapped as follows:
THE WEST: Key landmarks are the jungle city of Hlanith, the capital Illarnek, and the port of Dylath- Leen. Frontiers include the ancient land of Mnar and the ruins of
8 The creature is notorious for having terrorized LaCrosse County, Wisconsin from 1949 through 1952, when she was captured alive by a team of graduate students led by Dr. Valentine “Val” Carter. Her human familiar and dupe, a dim miscreant named Ed Gein, was subsequently convicted of her atrocities.
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Sarnath. Beyond the badlands of Mnar are the fabled “Steps of Deeper Slumber,” a margina convergence zone which provides access to The South and The East.
THE SOUTH: Exploration of The South has been hampered by the fact that the margina convergence zone is located at sea. Though the island of Oriah has been thoroughly explored and mapped, the oceans of The South have yet to be charted. Local folklore references an archipelago known as Zed-Tak-Szod or “The Fantastic Realms.”
THE EAST: The most populous of the spherae and the location of the largest known city in the Globaru, Celephaïs. Technology is the equivalent of late Bronze Age. Gravitational anomalies allow for extraordinary architectural forms, including inverted pyramids, soaring towers and titanic domes exceeding a kilometer in circumference.
THE NORTH: Cast in perpetual twilight under the dim light of a distant, dying sun, the night sky is dominated by a massive moon in a rapidly decaying orbit, the North is the least accessible of the charted spherae. Key landmarks include the Plateau of Leng, Kadath, a titanic fortress located atop a mountain, which is purportedly the domain of the “Great Ones.”
THE MOON (uncharted): Its only dimensional access-point, a difficult to access margina convergence zone, purportedly located in a maze of ancient catacombs excavated deep under the Plateau of Leng. Allegedly populated by a sentient, toad-like race that is ruled by Nyarlathotep, also known as “The Crawling Chaos.”
CHAOS: Uncharted The realm of Abdul Azathoth. A formless void within which it is said stands the legendary Caropalatium, a fortress constructed of living flesh. 30.
CHARACTER BIOS
MAIN CHARACTERS:
FINNIAN “FINN” TALBOT: 18. Freshman Undergraduate, Sleep Studies Major. Chronic underachiever, alienated, a loner. Son of JASPER TALBOT, bass guitarist, songwriter. When Finn was three, after his father died from an overdose subsequent to a long struggle with drug addiction, he and his twin sisters, REBECCA and CAITLIN (14) were raised by his mother, ANNA SELBY.
He has been plagued since adolescence by a chronic sleep disorder known colloquially as “Old Hag Syndrome,” during which he is terrorized and sexually assaulted by a grotesque entity he calls RAGGEDY ROOTY.
The only tactic by which Finn can avoid the nocturnal attacks is to interrupt his sleep phase every 50 to 65 minutes in order to interrupt REM-Stage IV. This has compromised all aspects of his young life—socially, psychologically and academically. He is therefore surprised to learn he has won a full-boat scholarship to Pachaug University. Especially since he has never heard of Pachaug, nor recalls applying for admission.
Once he arrives on campus, Finn learns he has been recruited by the Dean of the Sleep Studies Department, DR. A. GORDON CARTER, because he possesses a breathtakingly prodigious natural talent for lucid “directed dreaming.” He soon discovers what he always regarded as a curse is actually a gift. Its power, however, must be harnessed through craft and practice in order for him to rise to his potential.
As he devours the rare texts at the university library and absorbs more details about the other worlds in the multiverse, Finn begins to vaguely recall exploring them freely when he was a child, prior to the catastrophic arrival of Raggedy Rooty: she has stood as a sentinel; a terrifying obstacle to the realms of the Globaru.. And he realizes that if he is ever to tap into his potential and regain entrée to the Dreamlands, he must summon the requisite courage and strength to vanquish his childhood nemesis. 31.
Rooty, however, is no low-level xenomorph; she is an immensely powerful demigod in her own right, an arch-chimaera, a daughter of Shub-Niggurath, the unholy sister-wife of the Lord of Chaos, the Daemon-Sultan Azathoth himself.
Once Finn is free of Raggedy Rooty, it becomes apparent that his natural abilities far exceed even the wildest expectations of Dr. Carter. Without training, study or chemical enhancement, Finn’s C3 Stat—that is, the percentage of his dreaming activity comprised of Class Three Transportive Dreams—is a staggering 43% (C3 Stat: .431), the second highest recorded in a human subject since the phenomenal Venkman Twins in 1901, and that was a combined score possible only via the copious and regular doses of laudanum.
There are rumors of war drifting throughout the Dreamlands. Azathoth is gathering an army, preparing to subjugate and slaughter; to transform all seven spherae into the dark, mad, blood-soaked chaos of his own realm. Dr. Carter realizes that Finn could well be humanity’s savior in the Dark Days to come.
But despite his raw talent, it is possible the war has already been lost before it has begun— the boy is so profoundly psychologically broken, his gift so ruthlessly suppressed during the very years it should have blossomed under the guidance of a knowledgeable mentor, that Finn may never break through the wall of fear obstructing his transcendence.
ALICE DESMOND: 19. Graduate Student, Sleep Studies Major. Intelligent, driven, beautiful and ambitious, yet blessed with a sweet nature and giddy, playful sense of humor that insures her approachability and popularity among her peers. The sole progeny of two celebrated Sleepers, COL. JOHN “SKIP” and HELEN DESMOND, who died due to complications of childbirth. She consequently has a very complex and often troubled relationship with her father, who is by turns overprotective and aloof.
Alice is in fact the last in a long, prominent line of Sleepers. Her great-grandfather, Harlan Edward Desmond, was one of the original narconauts upon which Dr. Wingate Peaslee based his foundational research into the budding science of Sleep Studies. Whereas lucid Class 3 Transportive dreams constitute an average of .09% of total dream activity in the general population, Harlan Desmond’s recorded average was 24% (C3 Stat: .239), an impressive statistic given the primitive state of psycho-pharmacology in the early twentieth century.
Nevertheless, successive generations of Desmonds have significantly exceeded their storied ancestor’s performance; none by a greater measure than Alice. After years of steady disciplined practice and chemical enhancement, her Class 3 dreaming activity currently stand at .291, outperforming her closest rival Barton Rogers (C3 Stat: .246) by almost five full points. A prodigy, Alice was admitted into Pachaug at age 16, completing her undergraduate studies in less than three years. Now 19, she is initiating her first post- graduate semester in Sleep Studies with an eye toward earning a Ph.D. and, eventually, a tenured faculty position. 32.
Alice and BARTON ROGERS have been friends since childhood. They are considered a couple by their peers, one who will no doubt someday trade vows—a perception Barton finds immensely flattering and therefore does little to dissuade. Alice however considers the relationship transitional. Though they do occasionally sleep together and she loves him a great deal, Alice staunchly resists every effort Barton makes to “tie her down.” Of late, the issue has become a subject of increasing rancor, and more than once, Alice has considered formally breaking it off—even if it means severing their friendship.
BARTON ROGERS: 22. Graduate Student, Sleep Studies Major. Solid, courageous, methodical, intense, iconoclastic, the very definition of the classic hero. Barton is a direct descendent of DR. SARAH ROGERS, one of the architects of The Gilman Alliance and the first Dean of the Cartography Department. Though his natural talents skew toward remote viewing, since he was a child he has bridled against the passive exercise of merely navigating and recording while narconauts enjoy the thrill of exploration.
Barton’s mentor, DR. A. GORDON CARTER, took him under his wing when he was 12 and since has trained him to refocus his natural gifts toward directed dreaming.
Though he narrowly qualified for the program with a C3 Stat of .181 (the minimum requirement for incoming recruits is .180), through dogged practice, study and single- minded focus, Barton has made significant progress, increasing his stats to a respectable .246, placing him second only to Alice Desmond among his peers in graduate Sleep Studies.
Barton is a star athlete, tri-lettered in hockey, rowing and rugby. Physically fit, tough and smart, he is a brilliant tactician and street-brawler, skilled with bladed weapons as well as an expert equestrian, pistol and rifle shot. Sometimes rash and confrontational—even reckless—he has a tendency to unnecessarily place himself in danger, but never so dire that he can’t fight his way out or, if necessary, beat a hasty tactical retreat
DR. A. (ARTHUR) GORDON CARTER: B.Sc., Pachaug University, 1998; M.S., Pachaug University, 2000; Ph.D., Pachaug University, 2003. Dean of the Sleep Studies Dept. Late-30s. Great Grandson of seminal narconaut, explorer and scientist, Dr. Maynard Carter, he is an accomplished Sleeper in his own right and has pioneered significant advances in the discipline, particularly in the area of psychopharmacology and the application of biometric synchronization technology.
Carter lives off-campus on a farm with his wife, AUDREY, a sculptress, and his two children, ANNA, 6, and MAYNARD, 4. He adores Audrey and devotes every minute he can spare from his responsibilities at Pachaug to her and his young children.
Carter’s prodigious intellect is leavened by childlike curiosity and a delightfully uninhibited joy in discovery that infects his students and colleagues alike. His sole vulnerability is a pathological aversion to campus politics. Carter subscribes to the belief that the value of his work should be self-evident in its practical applications to improve mankind’s lot, not in how effectively he manipulates his peers, dominates a rival or flatters a benefactor. 33.
However, under President DR. KELSEY WITHERS, budget priorities have seismically shifted from Sleep Studies to favor the Paraphysics Department. This has placed him in the (very) reluctant role of “Old Guard” spokesman.
Carter’s first recorded directed dream occurred when he was five years old. He subsequently became the brightest protégé of DR. RICHARD CREW. Through meditation, Eastern disciplines, personal fitness and the judicious employment of psychoactives, Carter has increased the proportion of his Class 3 Transportive Dreams to nearly 26% of his total personal dream activity (C3 Stat: 257).
His explorations have substantially expanded the body of knowledge in regard to the charted four spherae of the Dreamlands—East, West, North and South—as well as ventures beyond the Plateau of Leng and the Moon of Nyarlathotep at the very doorstep of the margina separating The North from the uncharted seventh sphera, known only as The Crawling Chaos, the domain of the Daemon-Sultan Azathoth.
Carter has matched his zeal for exploration in the Dreamlands with those of a more temporal, corporeal nature, with travels taking him from Katmandu to the source of the Amazon to the mountains of Antarctica in search of herbal psychotropics, legendary crypto-archeological sites, xenomorphic fossils and the occasional live specimen.
Since the beginnings of multiverse theory and the subsequent excursions beyond the margina of Carter’s forbearers, speculation has run rampant regarding the ultimate objectives of Azathoth. It is a demonstrable fact that he has planted spies and recruited agents in other spherae. How he has managed to accomplish this is debatable. Otherwise pragmatic colleagues have actually suggested sorcery, citing arcane rituals contained in The Necromonicon. But there are increasing numbers of level-headed if undaunted pragmatists—Carter among them—who believe that Azathoth has unlocked the secrets of vortices mechanics by acquiring the sole extant copy of The Sarnath Codex, a secret monograph of mathematical theorems purportedly handwritten by Sir Isaac Newton while on his deathbed in 1727.
If so, the agents of Azathoth unmasked throughout the Globaru are but an advance guard, a harbinger of War to come.
Carter consequently has slowly but steadily modified the primary objective in training his Sleepers from its traditional emphasis on exploration to reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. He has sought out recruits who could very well serve as a vanguard of specialized soldiers, what he privately calls a “thin gray line” defending our world from an invasion of Azathoth’s daemon hordes.
And in this, the Lord of Chaos has tipped his hand, for Dr. Gordon knows well that the vaunted stature of Winn’s warden, Raggedy Rooty, is a direct measure of the boy’s potential value as a warrior and guardian for mankind.
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SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
KELLIE POLIDORI: 19. Undergrad, Sophomore, Cartographics Major. Free spirit, tattooed pixie rocker with flaming red hair, glasses. Kellie is by far the best remote viewer in the department. However, her punk party ethos is in direct conflict with the button-down nerd culture prevalent in the department.
Kellie is Alice’s roommate and best friend. She is also the Sleep Study team’s “go-to” for expedited maps and intel. However, given the institutionally ingrained antagonism between Cartographics and Sleep Studies, she must vigilantly choose her moments or risk expulsion.
The graduate T.A., THOMAS PEASLEE, has a major crush on Kellie—one she’s not above exploiting in order to help out her friends. Kellie, however, is immediately drawn to the new boy, Finn, attracted by his darkly handsome looks and his tragic aura.
THOMAS PEASLEE: 23. Graduate Student, Cartographics Major and T.A. to DR. CAPATHIAN. Dull, plodding, unimaginative, a poster-boy for everything wrong with the Cartography Department, Thomas is insufferably obsequious when dealing with his superiors; snide and capricious when dealing with those who report to him.
Unlike his peers, who harbor a deep resentment for the “cowboys” in Sleep Studies and take immense pleasure in the obstruction and micromanagement of even their simplest request for maps, data and assistance., Thomas is a true believer; he has genuine faith that there is a method to the seemingly senseless maze of rules.
Deep down, below his prickly demeanor and rampant insecurities, Thomas is a sweet soul. Unfortunately, he’s chosen a rotten role-model in Carpathian, who is methodically encouraging and cultivating every one of Thomas’s least noble traits.
DR. RICHARD CREW: B.Sc., Boston University, 1963; M.S., Pachaug University, 1965; Ph.D., Pachaug University, 1969. Pachaug University President Emeritus, Late-60s. Eccentric, tough, pragmatic, brilliant, Richard Crew was DR. HOWARD MAYNARD CARTER’s closest colleague, collaborator and best friend.
Together, Crew and Carter blazed new trails into the Dreamlands through the 1970s, experimenting with psychotropic and exotic natural hallucinogens.9 After Carter’s death at the hands of Nyarlathotep in 1978 and his wife Jeanette’s subsequent suicide, Crew raised their son A. Gordon as his own.
9 See The Chemical Revolution by Drs. Howard Maynard Carter and Richard Crew, Pachaug University press, ©1978
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Dr. Crew lives on a hand-hewn ranch in a glade called Gaunt’s Hollow.10 Accessible only by horseback and OHV, located deep in French Cut in an isolated forested canyon meadow, Crew spends most of his time working the ranch, where he raises goats, alpacas, honeybees and a delightfully smokeable indica weed known locally as “Crewcut Red.”
He still regularly consults with the Sleep Studies Department and counts among his closest confidantes Dr. A. Gordon Carter (who he calls “Artie’), Dr. Dorothy Lee (who he calls “Dot”) and Gertrude Beardsley (who he calls “Trudy”). He holds his successor, Harold Withers (who he calls “Numb Nuts,” “Shit for Brains,” and of course simply “The Asshole”) beneath contempt.
Crew has a lifetime seat on the Board of Regents, though he has been dismayed to see his power wane as his peers die off and are replaced by their heirs, many of whom see their duties on the Board as an annoying distraction from the frivolous squandering of their respective inheritances.
Crew’s closest friend and confidante is MAA’CHU, who he has known literally his entire life.
Though fit for his years, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Crew to tough out the mountain winters—especially the super-blizzards that strike once every decade or so and dump thirty feet of powder overnight—and has come to increasingly rely on Maa’chu’s amazing tracking skills, woodcraft and formidable strength to allow him to continue living in his beloved French Cut ranch.
MAA’CHU: A wizened, 212 year-old xenomorph who rescued Dr. Maynard Gordon in the tragic Tibetan Expedition of 1893, Maa’chu resides in a large suite in the west tower attic of the Charlotte Peaslee Library where he serves as the curator of the Maynard Carter Collection, a treasure trove compiling the comprehensive written record of multiverse theory and research. Suffice it to say, the collection is only accessible to faculty and a select handful of graduate students.
Aged, frail and slumped, partial to Empire-style three-piece suits, from a distance Maa’chu resembles a very old (if extremely hirsute) human male. Standing a diminutive (for his species) six feet, four inches tall and covered in a pelt of long silky white fur, Maa’chu is a living example of the mythic creature called the yeti or “abominable snowman.” In actuality, he is a native of the Belzar race indigenous to The West Sphera, his coloring indicative of the northern glacial regions.
Though he occasionally enjoys the dandy affect of suit and tie, his usual attire en suite is drawstring pants Pachaug tee and a ratty terrycloth bathrobe. He is fully sentient and proficient in five human languages, a chain-smoker, a voracious reader, enjoys composing poetry and has recently become an avid viewer of The Cooking Channel, in particular the series Master Chef.
10 Gaunt’s Hollow derives its name from the proliferation of Night Gaunts that populate the trees during their autumn spawn 36.
Though he is by definition a xenomorph, Maa’chu is also a notorious misogynist and has a complex if often prickly relationship with the current Dean of the Xenomorphic Studies Department, DR. DOROTHY RIGGS. In truth, they are quite fond of one another, though they have a tendency to bicker like an old married couple.
He is closest to Carter’s mentor and University President Emeritus, DR. RICHARD CREW, who is one of the few humans who can coax him out of his frigidly air-conditioned digs in the tower for evening hikes up to the crumbling ruins of Pachaug Tower at the terminus of Iroquois Cleft in the Spring and Fall.
Though serene, wise, rational to a fault and extraordinarily insightful into the sometimes- confusing inconsistencies of the human heart, every four years, Maa’chu enters a hormonal cycle of psychosis called “shemba,” marked by a violent compulsion to reproduce. Maa’chu considers each occurrence, with its attendant loss of control, distasteful and humiliating. Though he struggles mightily against his base instincts, inevitably, he succumbs to nature. Well acquainted with the symptoms of the condition,11 Dr. Crew for his transport to the northern Cascades in Washington, where Maa’chu spends the 36-day cycle tracking down and impregnating Belzarian females (sasquatch).
The Winter months are Maa’chu’s favorite season and he has been known to occasionally disappear for days at a time into the woods surrounding the university, living au naturale. Summer is his bane—months of itching rashes and prodigious shedding better spent holed up in his suite, shutters closed and drawn, the Gregorian hum of four large industrial window air conditioners operating at full blast.
DR. ALLISON RIGGS: B.Sc., California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 1999; M.Sc., California Institute of Technology, 2002; Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 2004. Dean of the Paraphysics Dept. Early-30s. The face of the “New” Pachaug being advocated by University President, DR. KELSEY WITHERS.
Brilliant, beautiful, independent, Riggs was a standout at the California Technical Institute where she studied under noted physicist, Robert F. Christy, and acted as head of the Particle Theory Group, conducting research in superstring theory, quantum gravity, quantum field theory, cosmology, particle phenomenology, and quantum information theory before graduating Magna cum Laude with a Ph.D. in Physics and Computational Mathematics.
Riggs has established herself as a pioneer in the forefront of Paraphysics through her work on multiverse mechanical physics. It was she who reintroduced Gilman’s “Clockwork Theory” to the discipline—the concept that the seven spherae are the equivalent of main- springs nested inside the impossibly complex system of smaller, internecine gears composing the margina. When these gears align and mesh, vortices are opened between the spherae that allow the physical passage from one to the next. This explains various
11 Though normally, Belzarians are strict vegetarians, shemba is marked by a compulsion to eat raw meat. 37. observed phenomena as well as the presence of xenomorphic, extra-dimensional creatures within our own sphera.
Given the complexity and variables of the Globaru—far beyond those involved in predicting astronomical events—forecasting when and where these vortices will occur has been impossible. Riggs, however, has been focusing on a promising new theory that may finally make it not only feasible to predict exactly where and when a vortex will appear, but could very well enable the fabrication of permanent, stable gateways between universes.
Though directed dreaming has been the primary means by which alternate spherae have been explored and mapped, these techniques are limited due to the fact that, though a Sleeper’s consciousness may be manifested as a physical, corporeal presence in an alternate sphera, he or she cannot transfer material objects to or from their destinations. Furthermore, Class 3 Transportive Dreaming requires extraordinarily uncommon inborn abilities and years of study and development—well beyond the limitations of the vast majority of human beings.
Riggs’ research would open up inter-dimensional travel to anyone who wished to undertake the journey, literally placing physical “boots on the ground” and enabling the transfer of goods and technologies between spherae.
A measure of its potential is the fact that for the last three years—largely due to the aggressive efforts of Dr. Withers—the budget of the Paraphysics Department has been increased by 136% while funding for the other disciplines within The Alliance have remained flat or suffered cutbacks. This has placed Riggs in direct conflict with her colleagues—especially Dr. Carter, who sees her research objectives as dangerous to the point of constituting catastrophic negligence.
DR. AMIR CARPATHIAN: B.Sc., B.A., Michigan State University, 1990; M.Sc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996; Ph.D. Pachaug University, 1998. Dean of the Cartographics Dept. Mid-40s Corpulent, fussy, oleaginous, partial to bow-ties, Carpathian sports a tragic head of doll-like transplanted hair.
Recently divorced from his wife of 22 years, Carpathian considers himself “on the prowl,” directing most of his amorous attention toward DR. RIGGS, who has manipulated his infatuation into a weapon against her main academic rival Dr. Carter at the expense of the Sleep Studies Department. In order to impress Riggs, Carpathian takes every opportunity to obstruct and delay the delivery of maps and other critical geographic data necessary to conduct exploration and surveys by his team of Sleepers.
Carpathian is abetted by decades of senseless rules, regulations, protocols and regulations that have resulted in a stultifying bureaucracy infested with dullards whose sole purpose seems to boil down to placing the cart in front of the horse whenever possible.
DR. DOROTHY LEE: B.Sc., Tatung Institute of Technology, 1988; M.Sc., Carnegie Mellon University, 1990; Ph.D, Pachaug University, 1992; Dean of the Xenomorphic Biology Dept. 38.
Tough, acerbic, direct, Lee suffers neither fools nor foolishness. Mid-50s, Chinese- American, Dr. Lee’s department has borne the brunt of the budgetary “redistribution” that has occurred under the leadership of University President Dr. Withers.
Though operating on a shoestring, Lee has managed to recruit the best and brightest xenobiologists in the world into her department (though Lee is the first to grouse, “Why not? We’re the only accredited xenobiology program on the planet. Where else are the maladjusted little cretins going to go?”).
She and her team scour the planet for specimens of exodimensional flora and fauna, examining them from a gross to a microscopic level in order to glean biological information—the properties, strengths and weaknesses of various organisms; how to identify them; evade them; counteract their venom; survive their attacks. Over the years, additional breakthroughs have resulted in treatments for human maladies from athlete’s foot to smallpox.
Despite the fact that the research conducted by “X-Bio” has routinely proven critical—even life-saving—to narconauts, Lee has seen her departmental budget slashed by over 70% in the last five years. She has been subtly pressured to accept early retirement, but has refused to even consider the rich “enhanced” pension packages offered by Dr. Withers and the Board of Regents, fully aware that the day she steps down will be the day her department is shuttered for good, it’s rich legacy consigned to the dust-heap of academic dead-ends.
DR. KELSEY WITHERS: M.Ed., Suffolk University, M.B.A., Boston University Pachaug University President. Early 40s. Polished, directed, manipulative, professional, Dr. Withers wields significant influence on the Board of Regents. He is a virtuoso of academic politics, deftly playing one department or personality against another, careful never to get his own hands dirty. Withers doesn’t lie, he “misspeaks;” he doesn’t defund, he “reallocates.”
Though the President of Pachaug has traditionally been promoted from members of the Faculty, upon the retirement of Dr. Richard Crew, the University Board of Regents decided to cast their recruitment effort outside the university, not only to introduce fresh perspectives and ideas into the institution but to remain competitive in the marketplace of higher education. After a protracted executive search, they offered the position to Dr. Kelsey Withers, who was charged with bringing Pachaug (some say “kicking and screaming”) into the 21st century.
Since Withers’ engagement, true to his mission, the university has seen a profound realignment of priorities and protocols. Enrollment has risen and funding—both private and public—has almost doubled. Most of this money has been poured into capital improvements such as Arthur and Agatha Feeney Hall, the new state-of-the-art home of the Paraphysics Department, and the Paragon Townhouses, a new campus housing facility to be built “down the hill” in the undeveloped Newton Flats property. 39.
Withers’ critics, however, point out that a significant portion of the money has been directed toward the establishment of new administrative posts and increased executive compensation packages, including Withers’ own salary.
GERTRUDE BEARDSLEY: President Withers’ Executive Assistant, Early-60s, Gertrude worked for Dr. Richard Crew for thirty-five years before being “inherited” by President Withers. She bristles at the disregard he holds for traditional Pachaug values.
Withers is well aware of her hostility and would love nothing more than to replace her, if only for a younger, more attractive executive assistant more suited to the image of professionalism he wishes to project. Thus, on more than one occasion, he has sought to force her early retirement or terminate her for cause—from pilfering office supplies to gross insubordination—only to be foiled in the attempt. (Gertrude, after all, knows a thing or two herself about campus politics at Pachaug and has powerful friends on The Board.)
The truth is, Gertrude would like nothing more but to retire and spend more time with her daughter and grandchildren in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but she remains in her post out of loyalty to her former boss, Dr. Crew, who relies on her to keep him informed about the inside goings on in the Administrative offices and the university at large.
WALT KRENTZMAN: Grizzled university caretaker and handyman, mid-60s. Once the technical assistant of Drs. Roy and Marion Ettinger, Krentzman is expert the inner workings of the Ettinger Dream Chamber prototype in the Sleep Studies lab, he is responsible for maintaining and repairing the device, which he refers to as “Matilda.”
DENNIS BELL: Graduate student, Xenomorphic Biology Department. Mid-20s cursed with a look of perpetual, blinking, Don-Knotts terror—bad haircut, prominent adams apple, played French horn in his high school marching band. Dr. Dorothy Lee’s protégé and trusted right hand. Studious, odd, loyal to a fault and surprisingly courageous. Bell has a habit of storing partially dissected specimens in the communal refrigerator.
Two semesters ago, Bell decided to take up residence at the long-abandoned Dexter Hall, the oldest and most isolated of the student housing units, in order to investigate long- reported phenomena, which he theorizes may be dimensional anomalies.
Upon moving in to Dexter Hall, Finn is told by one of the other student residents that Bell is the R.A., an error Bell doesn’t bothered to correct. Bell generally keeps to his room after dark.
ANDREA GILMAN – Aspiring poetess. Appears to be 19 years old, he attained age upon her death in 1958 after slashing her wrists. Like all campus suicides since the founding of Pachaug, Andrea inhabits Dexter Hall.
THE BOARD OF REGENTS: A mysterious body of anonymous individuals who are the true power behind the University’s agenda. Puppet-masters. 40.
AUDREY CARTER: Dr. A. Gordon Carter’s wife, a celebrated sculptress and devoted mother to his two children, ANNA CARTER (6) and MAYNARD CARTER (3). Patient, supportive, playful and affectionate, born in Glasgow, Scotland, she met Carter at a youth hostel in Paris. The two travelled the world together for the subsequent three years and have climbed six of the Seven Summits (defeated twice by Vinson Massif in Antarctica, they have nevertheless sworn to make a third attempt as soon as Maynard turns 18).
An accomplished artist, Audrey has mounted exhibitions in prominent galleries throughout the world, and her work is in the permanent collections of Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCCA and The Aldrich.
VERONICA TALBOT: Late-30s. Finn’s mother. Flighty, full-time waitress, struggling actress. Deep into every flaky California trend to totter down the pike, from macrobiotics to colonics. Though well-meaning and over-protective, she has worked tirelessly to help her troubled son, supporting him and his twin sisters on her meager wages as a waitress at Denny’s.
REBECCA and CAITLIN TALBOT: 12. Finn’s twin sisters. Though their powers have yet to manifest at the outset of our story, their abilities will be formidable and, combined, equal if not greater to Finn’s. 41.
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A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT WITHERS
It is very exciting for us to welcome you as a member of the Class of 2020. Although your graduation may be four years away, we are prepared today to provide you with every opportunity to be successful toward your matriculation.
Whatever you require for a successful learning experience here at “Old Pachaug” may be found within our thriving campus community, where our staff is committed to exceeding your expectations and ensuring your success. From convocation to commencement, the university staff and faculty is dedicated to providing guidance, support services and meaningful programs to enhance your academic experience.
This fall semester will open with a number of exciting additions to our campus including the spectacular new state-of-the-art home of the Paraphysics Department, Arthur and Agatha Feeney Hall, enhanced technology in all classrooms, and additional off-campus student housing for juniors and seniors in the Paragon Townhouses.
In addition to our unique graduate-studies track, we are proud to introduce a new core curriculum, known as the Foundational Studies Program, which will provide you shared team-learning labs that are designed to give the students an academic experience that mirrors the collaboration now common in the workplace.
A hallmark of Pachaug University year in and year out is the strong commitment of our faculty and staff to work for the benefit of our students. We pride ourselves in being there for you in every way so 43.
you will have a truly transformational educational experience. We at Pachaug want your time with us to be an unqualified success. What an opportunity lies ahead of you. Welcome to Pachaug University and Go Badgers!
Sincerely,
Kelsey Withers President, Pachaug University
PACHAUG UNIVERSITY
Pachaug University was established in 1882 by a group of benefactors, educators and scientists in northwestern R.I., 20 miles north of the township of Chepachet, offering traditional curricula in liberal arts and sciences as well as more specialized academic tracks such as those offered under the umbrella of the Walter Gilman Memorial Academic Alliance
THE ALLIANCE
The Walter Gilman Memorial Academic Alliance was founded in July of 1907, comprising a “university within a university,” uniting four departments dedicated to the research and exploration 44.
of the extra-dimensional universes that later became FUN FACT known collectively as the Globaru or, more Pachaug University is colloquially, “The rumored to be the institution 12 Dreamlands.” upon which seminal horror
Funded by a grant from the writer, H.P. Lovecraft, based Pachaug University Board of his fictional “Miskatonic Regents, The Alliance is University.” comprised of the Schools of Sleep Studies, Paraphysics, Whether factual or Xenomorphic Biology and apocryphal, the connection Cartography. with the notorious writer is a point of pride among the Though allied, all four student body, and the departments are autonomous and distinct in bookstore does brisk business their organization and in Lovecraft-related Pachaug internal culture. t-shirts and accessories.
Collaboration and cooperation is critical in the pursuit of knowledge and truth through scientific method. Great strides have been made to foster an environment of civility on campus.
The Pachaug University Regents have adopted a “zero tolerance” toward rude, uncooperative or discourteous interactions between colleagues. Violations of the University Code of Conduct may result in suspension, academic censure or, in egregious cases, expulsion.
12 The first published reference to “The Dreamlands” was by famed explorer and archeologist Dr. Maynard Carter in his memoirs, A Life Lived (1918). It is rumored that Dr. Carter was the partial inspiration for the American writer H.P. Lovecraft’s character “Randolph Carter.”
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SLEEP STUDIES DEPARTMENT
The study of lucid/directed dreaming is conducted on the third floor of the Psychology Wing of the university’s Darrow Fillmore School of Medicine under the general designation of Sleep Studies.
While other departments are limited to Multiverse theory, navigation and observation, Sleep Studies is the only discipline within The Academic Alliance in which faculty are authorized to actually conduct field research.
Though physically breaching the margina is theoretically possible, doing so is a highly controversial endeavor with significant technological challenges. However, certain individuals are gifted with the natural talent to access the margina through the discipline of Directed Dreaming. These explorers, referred to in research literature as Narconauts (though more colloquially as “Sleepers”13) are the point of the spear in the exploration of the multiverse.
One of the primary missions of The Alliance in cooperation with the Admissions Department is the identification, vetting and recruitment of Narconauts to attend as students. The university provides a unique environment in which the student’s natural abilities can be fostered and enhanced through study, training and the utilization of cutting-edge pharmacological and technological amplification.
13 The term “Sleepers” was once one of derision and is still occasionally considered an insult, depending on context. Primarily, it is acceptable for Narconauts to refer to themselves as Sleepers, but when used as an epithet by students outside the Sleep Studies Department, can constitute a slur (refer to University Code of Conduct, Rule 6a.). 46.
PARAPHYSICS DEPARTMENT
Over the last four decades, immense progress has been made in the discipline of Paraphysics. Building on the seminal work of Jürgen Schmidhuber, Stephen M. Feeney and in particular Tegmark & Greene, significant and promising breakthroughs have been realized regarding the physical structures of the Globaru. It may soon be possible to predict the timing and locations of breaches between Earth and other spherae with the same degree of accuracy we observe in certain local astronomical events.
Though currently there is much work to do, the research and exploration conducted in the state of the art laboratories in our newest addition to the campus, Feeney Hall, is laying the groundwork for a future in which a physical journey from one universe to the next is as simple, safe and routine as commuter air- travel.
CARTOGRAPHICS DEPARTMENT
The Cartographics Department is tasked with the vital role of recording and mapping the geography of the spherae in order to build upon the hard- 47.
won discoveries yielded over the last century by the intrepid explorers within the Sleep Studies Department. In the 1960s, the data upon which the department relies was greatly expanded via the development of remote viewing techniques pioneered by Dr, Timothy Vidal.
Today, Cartographics serves not only as navigators, but as invaluable "spies in the sky,” observing, directing and monitoring the progress of Sleepers through the often treacherous unexplored territories of the multiverse. XENOMORPHIC BIOLOGY BEPARTMENT Due to the natural movements of the multiverse, breaches often open in the margina, allowing the passage of creatures and fauna between spherae. Though most only survive seconds in a profoundly alien environment, a select few thrive in Earth’s ecosystem. Most species that are considered “legendary” find their origins in an adjacent sphera.
For instance, the large sentient primates referred to by crypto zoologists under such diverse names as Sasquatch, Albatwitche, Barmanu and the Abominable Snowman are actually specimens of the gentle Belzar race that populates the jungles surrounding the city of Hlanith in sphera known as the West. Likewise, mythical creatures such as satyrs are actually displaced Men of Leng; mermaids, the Sirens of the vast South seas. Even the monsters that populate our nightmares, vampires, lycanthropes and “witches” (or striga) are, in fact, unwitting immigrants from alternative spherae. 48.
The Xenomorphic Biology Department’s main mission is to investigate reports of these creatures, track them down and obtain living or dead samples for research purposes. These creatures not only reveal much about their native worlds, but yield critical clues to their respective vulnerabilities, enabling Sleepers to neutralize them should they prove threatening or predatory.
NOTES: 49.
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THE ETTINGER DREAM CHAMBER
Prior to the development and practical application of biometric synchronization technology, Transportive Dreaming was a solo endeavor. Though group expeditions were attempted, they failed due to a phenomenon that became known as “synchronic displacement” (later recognized as the Schrödinger Effect). That is, two Sleepers can simultaneously occupy the same extra-dimensional coordinate, yet be locked into wholly separate quantum timelines and, therefore, remain invisible to one another.20
In order to conduct group expeditionary Cooperative Dream Activity (or CDA), the members of the team must achieve biometric synchronization. This is facilitated by utilization of the Ettinger Dream Chamber or equivalent technologies.21
Pioneered in the 1950s by Drs. Roy and Marion Ettinger, the so-called “Dream Chamber” device was developed to negate the Schrödinger Effect by employing biometric sensors and electric stimulation to synchronize pulse, respiration and neural alpha-waves in multiple subjects.
The Ettinger Dream Chamber consists of three saltwater isolation tanks situated as “spokes” around a “hub” that houses the Central Synchronization Unit (CSU). It is not known how many Sleep Chambers the Ettingers built for testing at other universities and institutions, but it is rumored that all the devices extant have either been decommissioned or are no longer in operating condition.
Assembled in 1952 and further developed and modified until Marion Ettinger’s death in 1968, the Sleep Chamber housed in the Main Sleep Studies Lab at Pachaug is a working prototype.
20 Also known colloquially as being “out-of-phase.”
21 Biometric synchronization devices were simultaneously developed from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s, in the U.K. by parapsychologist Dr. John Beloff and his team at the University of Edinburgh, the former Soviet Union by Soviet psychiatrist Dr. Anton Tarasov as well as in top-secret programs conducted by the U.S. Pentagon and the Central Intelligence agency. 61.
The CSU itself is evident of its provenance, engineered upon a base unit resembling an ungainly vintage 1950’s home-appliance controlled by multiple dials and toggle- switches. Though it has been augmented with modern upgrades such as flat-screen digital biometric monitors, the heart of the system is analogue solid-state and vacuum-tube tech. It’s appearance, like all prototypes, reflects the ethos of “form follows function” and is, therefore, more an assemblage than a finished product.
Though digital equivalents to the Ettinger CSU have been developed, none have performed with the consistent reliability demonstrated by the Pachaug device. It is maintained by the Ettinger’s former engineering assistant, WALT KRENTZMAN. 62.
PHOTIC STIMULATION GOGGLES
Researchers can trigger visual hallucinations using intensely flashing LEDs. Employing photic stimulation to promote brain responses could bring scientists closer to understanding the phenomena and, in turn, could reveal more about the psychiatric, neurological and eye disorders associated with them. Unlike other vision disorders, hallucinations are especially difficult to study because of their irregularity and unpredictability. However, Dr. Dominic H. ffytche at the Institute of Psychiatry in London devised a way to manipulate the same anomalous activity within the same regions of the brain and to monitor the activity by using EEG and functional MRI scanning.
“In the past, the study of visual hallucinations has had to rely on the chance occurrence of an hallucination while a patient was having a brain scan or EEG recording. Being able to induce visual hallucinations on demand makes it easier to study the phenomena,” ffytche said.
Hallucinations create false vivid or distorted perceptions of objects, colors and sounds by affecting all sensory modalities, from vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch to even balance, physiological pain and body temperature fluctuations. Activity occurs within specialized cortical regions of the brain (topological) as well as changes in connections between these regions (hodological). In his study, ffytche focused on visual hallucinations and the hodotopic framework to help assimilate neurobiological data into neuropsychiatric symptoms.
Photic stimuli
Ffytche mimicked a model created by physiologist Jan Purkinje called Purkinje patterns. It is an experiment that exposes normal subjects to recurring changes of hallucinatory and nonhallucinatory states by using light sources. The lights execute repetitive flashes that generate activity in various regions of the brain, whether or not hallucinations occur. Frequencies below 5 Hz or above 30 Hz do not induce hallucinations.
Visual stimulation was created by functional MRI-compatible goggles comprising 30 high-intensity white LEDs. Subjects underwent hallucination-inducing stimuli, 63.
which included a sequence of low hallucination-inducing frequencies (8 to 11 Hz) and high hallucination-inducing frequencies (19 to 25 Hz). The experiment also combined two control stimuli – frequency and luminance – that did not provoke hallucinations.
During frequency control stimulation, the frequency of flashes stayed the same as the hallucination-inducing stimuli, but light intensity was reduced by 15 to 30 percent. With luminance control stimulation, subjects underwent the same light intensity as hallucination-inducing stimuli, but the frequency changed as flashes were irregularly spaced. Flash sequences were in pseudorandom order, so subjects did not know whether they would have hallucinations or not. Each flash sequence lasted 6 s, followed by 10 s of rest, and a total of 10 flash sequences were given within a period of 8 min.
The occipital lobe of the brain reveals activity during visual hallucinations after an experiment that involved sequences of intensely flashing LEDs. Being able to induce hallucinations and observe brain responses could help researchers better understand the phenomena.
Ffytche discovered that both control stimuli increase activity throughout the bilateral and ventral cortical regions of the brain. Activity of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), where nerve signals from the eye are passed through to the brain, increased during frequency-control stimuli. Hallucination-inducing stimuli produced a decrease in LGN activity but resulted in an increase in activity of the occipital lobe. Luminance control caused only a small decrease in LGN activity, and activity of the occipital lobe was lower than with hallucination-induced stimuli.
As a result of the hallucination-inducing stimuli, subjects saw a vivid array of geometrical shapes, simple lines, colors, checkerboards and grids. Topological changes revealed that specific areas of the visual cortex, when activated, produced their intended hallucination – activity in the color region triggered color hallucinations. Hodological changes revealed that each sensory modality hallucination was based on the collaboration of the appropriate networks – visual 64. hallucinations were derived from communication within the visual cortical areas of the brain. Therefore, by inducing visual hallucinations, ffytche could observe the correlation between changes of increased activity and connectivity of specific brain regions.
A disease that has appeared to be most directly related to Purkinje patterns is Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS), which commonly affects individuals with significant vision loss. During CBS, an individual can experience what ffytche calls a “transient form of ‘blindness’ ” – when the transfer of visual signals to the brain changes because of a shift in neural firing patterns known as burst mode. This impairs vision and temporarily blinds the person to the external world. Although Purkinje hallucinations occur in individuals who do not have severe vision loss, both types of patients can experience this kind of dissociation. Identifying their relationship could bring researchers one step closer to understanding the cause of CBS.
An advantage of applying the Purkinje model within the hodotopic framework is that it allows for specific regions of the brain and their activity to be viewed simultaneously. A disadvantage is that the framework is oversimplified because neither the basal ganglia, brain stem or limbic system, nor changes associated with specific neurotransmitters, are incorporated into the study.
According to ffytche, hallucinations are still extraordinary and complex occurrences that scientists must study further to comprehend their onset.
“We are planning to look at how brain changes in patients at risk of hallucinations relate to changes that occur during the hallucinations themselves to better understand why hallucinations occur,” he said. 65.
PARAPHYSICS FUNDAMENTALS
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GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF TERMS
2nd Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – Noted for Dr. Maynard Carter’s mysterious disappearance. He was allegedly in possession of the legendary Sarnath Codex.
63rd Pachaug University Annual Summer Retreat and Symposium - Peaslee delivered his and Gilman’s theory in a keynote speech on June 26th, 1906 at the now legendary at Ocean House in Bluff Hill, R.I.
Alfred G. Krebs Life Sciences Building – Home of the Xenomorphic Biology Department (X-Bio).
Arch-chimaera – A daughter of Shub-Niggurath, the unholy sister-wife of the Lord of Chaos, the Daemon-Sultan Azathoth. (H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)
Arthur and Agatha Feeney Hall – Brand new, state-of-the-art home of the Paraphysics Department.
Avatara – Also, “Familiar;” manifesting the essence of the cartographer’s disembodied consciousness in the form of a small animal.
Badgers - The Pachaug University sports team name (i.e. “Go Badgers!”)
Belzar Race – Indigenous to The West Sphera; the Xenomorph Maa’chu is a “Belzarian.”
Biometric Synchronization Technology (BST) – Employing biometric sensors and electric stimulation to synchronize pulse, respiration and neural alpha-waves in multiple subjects.
Breaching the Veil – a seminal monograph by Drs. Wingate Peaslee and Walter Gilman (Pachaug University Press, ©1907) that introduces “The Peaslee Scale” dream categorization system.
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C3 Stat – The percentage of a subjet’s dreaming activity comprised of Class Three (Transportive) Dreams
Caropalatium, The – The palace of Abdul Azathoth; a vast fortress constructed of living beings from all seven spherae, twisted into whatever shape is needed to support the weight of the structure.
Carter, Audrey – Dr. A. Gordon Carter’s spouse. Sculptress.
Carter, Dr. Howard Maynard – Dr. A Gordon Carter’s father. Deceased. Murdered by Nyarlothep in 1978.
Carter, Jeanette – Dr. A Gordon Carter’s mother. Committed suicide after husband Howard’s death.
Carter, Dr. Maynard – Seminal narconaut, explorer and co-founder of Pachaug University, explorer and scientist. Great Grandfather of Dr. A. Gordon Carter. Disappeared on an Antarctic expedition in 1919.
Carter, Dr. Valentine (“Val”): Dr. A Gordon Crew’s paternal grandfather. Dean of Sleep Studies Department, 1947 - 1963
Cartographics Department – Recording and mapping the geography of the spherae.
Charlotte Peaslee Library, The – The central repository for the Maynard Carter Collection, a treasure trove representing the comprehensive written record of multiverse theory and research.
Chemical Revolution, The – Textbook by Drs. Howard Maynard Carter and Richard Crew on the effects of various organic psychotropics and their role in the enhancement of lucid directed dreaming.
Chepachet – a small township located 20 miles south of Pachaug University. Chepachet is the sole community within 100 miles of the college. 75.
Cooperative Dream Activity (or CDA) – Multiple Sleepers linking astral consciousness in order to facilitate coordinated Transportive Dream travel to the same destination and timeline, facilitated by the utilization of biometric synchronization devices such as the Ettinger sleep chamber or equivalent technologies.
Crewcut Red – A powerful indica hybrid cultivated by Dr. Richard Crew up at his ranch in French Cut.
Darrow Fillmore School of Medicine, The – Home of the Sleep Studies Department. The study of lucid dreaming is conducted on the third floor of the Psychology Wing.
Deep Ones – “I think their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed.” (H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow over Innsmouth)
Desmond, Harlan Edward – Alice Desmond’s great-grandfather, the original “Narconaut” recruited by Wingate Peaslee.
Desmond, Colonel John (“Skip”) – Alice Desmond’s father. Former Narconaut. Now employed by the Pentagon. Spends most of his time in D.C.
Desmond, Helen – Former narconaut, deceased. Alice Desmond’s mother.
Dexter Hall - Built in the early 20th Century Craftsman style with vaguely Japanese design elements—wide eaves, broad terraces and balconies—Dexter Hall is the oldest dorm on campus. Long-shuttered and vacant, over the 132 years since the founding of the university, it has become a cozy sanctuary for the spirits of all the Pachaug students who committed suicide.
Dreamlands, The – The reality-matrix which quantum physicists call the multiverse. 76.
Ettinger, Drs. Roy and Marion – pioneers in the development of Dream Chamber Technology to preclude the Schrödinger Effect by synchronizing biometrics in multiple subjects
Ettinger Sleep Chamber – Consists of three saltwater isolation tanks situated as “spokes” around a “hub” that houses the Central Synchronization Unit (CSU). Precludes the Schrödinger Effect by employing biometric sensors and electric stimulation to synchronize pulse, respiration and neural alpha-waves in multiple subjects.
French Cut – An isolated forested canyon meadow above the university. Dr. Richard Crew lives there on his alpaca ranch.
Gaunt’s Hollow – Located deep in French Cut. Derives its name from the proliferation of Night Gaunts that populate the trees during their autumn spawn.
Gilman’s Clock – A metaphoric model of the multiverse.
Gilman, Dr. Walter – Pachaug founder, physicist, seminal figure in multiverse string theory.
Globaru, The – Also, “Multiverse;” The combination of the spherae and margina; A reality matrix which quantum physicists call a multiverse (see also “Globaru.”)
Gul – “But damn it all, it wasn’t even the fiendish subject that made it such an immortal fountain-head of all panic—not that, nor the dog face with its pointed ears, bloodshot eyes, flat nose, and drooling lips. It wasn’t the scaly claws nor the mould-caked body nor the half- hooved feet—none of these, though any one of them might well have driven an excitable man to madness.” (H.P. Lovecraft, Pickman’s Model)
Innsmouth Tavern, The – Popular off-campus food and drink establishment located in the township of Chepachet frequented by faculty nd students.
Iroquois Cleft – A ravine that runs southeast of Pachaug University. Noted for its mysterious pre-Columbian cave-dwellings, monoliths and petroglyphs as well as the enigmatic ruins of Pachaug Tower. 77.
Level 3 Cooperative Dream Activity – Also, “CDA;” Multiple Sleepers linking astral consciousness in order to facilitate coordinated Transportive Dream travel to the same destination and timeline, facilitated by the utilization of biometric synchronization devices such as the Ettinger sleep chamber or equivalent technologies.
Margina, The – A complex system of vortex passages; Once called The Underworld by early researchers and narconauts at Pachaug University the margina is akin to a river delta, its streams and tributaries in a perpetual state of flux.
Margina Convergence Zones – Main “channels” within the margina; permanent stable passages between two or more spherae.
Mesmertol (mesmerzepam hydrochloride) – A benzodiazepine used to enhance or prolong the dream-cycle; An experimental drug found to increase, enhance and prolong Level 3 Transportive dream activity.
Multiverse Theory – The spherae and margina form the Globaru; A reality-matrix; the multiverse is analogous to a timepiece consisting of seven mainsprings driving a complex system of thousands of interconnected gears.
Narconauts – Also, “Sleepers;” Explorers of the multiverse through the discipline of directed (or “lucid”) Class 3 Tranportive dreaming.
Night Gaunts – “Shocking and uncouth black beings with smooth, oily, whale-like surfaces, unpleasant horns that curved inward toward each other, bat-wings whose beating made no sound, ugly prehensile paws, and barbed tails that lashed needlessly and disquietingly. And worst of all, they never spoke or laughed, and never smiled because they had no faces at all to smile with, but only a suggestive blankness where a face ought to be. All they ever did was clutch and fly and tickle; that was the way of night-gaunts.” (H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream- Quest of Unknown Kadath)
Paragon Townhouses – Off-campus student housing for Pachaug University juniors and seniors. 78.
Paraphysics Department – Devoted to the study of the quantum mechanics behind the multiverse, developing mathematical models in pursuit of predicting its movements and consequent events; Particular focus in the mechanism of the margina and the generation of vortices between the spherae.
Pachaug Tower – Crumbling ruins of a tower, allegedly an ancient observatory, located at the terminus of Iroquois Cleft.
Peaslee, Dr. Wingate – seminal Sleep Studies pioneer.
Peaslee House – Home of the Cartographics department; a soot-stained, turreted, widow- walked Victorian pile of granite, bricks, slate and rotting green fish-scale shingles. The rambling mansion was once the ancestral home of the Peaslee family.
Phil’s Gas’n’Go – Gas station located at the Chepachet township limits.
Photic Stimulation Goggles (PSGs): Used by Pachaug cartographers to enhance remote viewing. PSGs employ intense, flashing LEDs to stimulate the wearer’s neural alpha-waves.
Rogers, Dr. Sarah - One of the founders of Pachaug and the first Dean of the Cartography Department. Ancestor of Barton Rogers.
Sarnath Codex - An ancient manuscript containing the mathematical formulae necessary to predict the occurrence of interdimensional vortices and calculate their exact time, date and global coordinates.
Schrödinger Effect – Also, “Synchronic Displacement;” two Sleepers can simultaneously occupy the same extra-dimensional coordinate, yet be locked into wholly separate quantum timelines and, therefore, remain invisible to one another.
Sleep Studies Department – The study of lucid directed-dreaming; the only discipline within The Academic Alliance in which faculty are authorized to actually conduct field research accessing the spherae through the discipline of lucid dreaming. 79.
Sphera – pl. “Spherae;” Each Sphera contains its own flora, fauna, technology and even alternate physical laws.
Sutratma – The invisible braided silver cord that connects the Sleeper’s astral and physical bodies.
Talbot, Jasper – Finn Talbot’s father, musician, bass-player, drug addict. Deceased.
Tibetan Expedition of 1893 – Disasterous expedition that claimed the lives of all hands on the team but Dr. Maynard Carter, who was rescued by xenomorph, Maa’chu.
Transportive Dreaming – Actual concrete extra-dimensional locations accessed through the process of sleep
Venkman, Molly and Daisy – Legendarily gifted twin narconauts, Pachaug Sleep Studies, 1910 – 1918. Until Finn Talbot, held the aggregate record C3 Stat of 38.7%, a combined score possible only via the copious and regular doses of laudanum. Molly leapt to her death from a hotel window in St. Louis In 1918. Molly subsequently died in a madhouse in 1939.
Vidal, Dr, Timothy – Pioneer in remote viewing techniques and Dean of the Cartographics Department, 1935 - 1958. Some call him the “father” of modern multiverse cartography.
Vortex – pl. “Vortices;” A passage’s terminus; open for a period of exactly 7 minutes and 12 seconds.
Walter Gilman Memorial Academic Alliance – An interdisciplinary coalition of the Schools of Sleep Studies, Paraphysics, Xenomorphic Biology and Cartography.
Xenomorph – Creatures and fauna between spherae; Most species considered “mythic” find their origins in alternate dimensions-from Sasquatch to Dragons, vampires to ghouls.
Xenomorphic Biology Department – Investigates reports of creatures and fauna that pass between spherae, track them down and obtain living, dead or fossilized samples for research purposes.